Mostazafan Foundation

The Mostazafan Foundation of Islamic Revolution (Persian: بنیاد مستضعفان انقلاب اسلامی), formerly Bonyad-e Mostazafan va Janbazan (Foundation of the Oppressed and Disabled or "MFJ") is a charitable bonyad, or foundation, in the Islamic Republic of Iran, the second-largest commercial enterprise in Iran behind the state-owned National Iranian Oil Company and the biggest holding company in the Middle East. The foundation was formerly directly run by Ruhollah Khomeini. It was founded in 1979 as a successor to the Pahlavi Foundation. As an economic, cultural, and social welfare institution, the foundation controls manufacturing and industrial companies, whose profits are used—according to the foundation—to promote "the living standards of the disabled and poor individuals" of Iran and to "develop general public awareness with regards to history, books, museums, and cinema." According to one of the foundation's former directors, Mohsen Rafighdoost, Mostazafan allocates 50 percent of its profits to providing aid to the needy in the form of low-interest loans or monthly pensions, while it reinvests the remaining 50 percent its various subsidiaries. The Mostazafan Foundation is associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps , from which some of its head officials have come, and controlled by the Khamenei family.