Former minister appointed as head of Iran’s biggest charity

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has appointed a new chief for the Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation (IKRF), Iran’s largest charity organization.

Ayatollah Khemenei on Sunday appointed Parviz Fattah as the head of IKRF, after the organization saw some changes in its statute.

The Leader also appointed a new board of trustees to the IKRF, assigning them with the responsibility to provide better social services to the needy across Iran. Ayatollah Khemenei also recommended the branches of government to support the body in performing its missions.

Based on a decree by Imam Khomeini, the late founder of the Islamic Revolution, IKRF was established in March 1979 as a charity organization to provide assistance and support to the poor in Iran. The body mainly relies on donations by people although it also receives some funding from the Iranian administration.

The new changes in the statute of the foundation came after its long-serving head of the board of trustees, Habibollah Asgarowladi, died last November at the age of 81. The revolutionary figure was the de facto chief of IKRF since the very beginning of its inception.

A minister of energy under former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Fattah has also served as a local commander in the Islamic Revolutions Guards Corps.