Revealed: billionaire Reform donor was in business with foundation linked to Iranian regime

Ghandehari’s HP Trust was the ultimate owner of Ori Group, which took a 49% stake in Omran Razavi International Co in 2015. The venture was formed to supply and build a fibre-optic cable across Iran. Its other owner was Astan Quds Razavi, a powerful religious foundation based in Mashhad.

The business link ran through several companies. HP Trust owned Ori Group, while Ghandehari’s HP Trust also owned Orico General Trading LLC until 2016. Orico was contracted to supply telecommunications equipment from France’s Alcatel-Lucent and move it from Dubai to Iran.

The connection matters because Astan Quds Razavi is linked to Iran’s supreme leader and controls major economic assets. Ghandehari’s lawyers say his project aimed to improve access to information and was authorised by US and French authorities. The venture later ended after Iran’s leadership changed.

Astan Quds Razavi, or AQR, is a multibillion-pound religious foundation based in Mashhad, Iran’s second city. It is described as a bonyad, meaning an opaque, quasi-official organisation generally controlled by officials and clerics. These organisations report directly to Iran’s supreme leader.

AQR was led by Ayatollah Abbas Vaez Tabasi from the 1979 revolution until his death in 2016. Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran’s first supreme leader, appointed him as the foundation’s custodian. Vaez Tabasi was also close to the next supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.

The connection matters because AQR is not simply a private company. The United States later said it controlled large parts of Iran’s economy and assets taken from dissidents and religious minorities. That background made Ghandehari’s commercial partnership politically sensitive, especially in telecommunications.

The venture was Omran Razavi International Co, created to supply and build a fibre-optic cable across Iran. The article does not state its total monetary value, so its financial scale cannot be calculated from the available information. It does show that the project involved major telecommunications infrastructure.

Ghandehari’s HP Trust was the ultimate owner of Ori Group. Ori Group took a 49% stake in the venture in 2015. Astan Quds Razavi held the remaining 51%. This gave the Iranian foundation majority ownership, while Ghandehari’s side remained the major private investor behind the deal.

The split matters because it placed a private-backed company alongside a powerful state-linked foundation. The arrangement ended around 2016, when Ghandehari-backed entities were pushed out after a hardliner replaced AQR’s long-serving leader. The article gives no later ownership valuation.

The fibre-optic project was intended to supply and build a cable carrying telecommunications traffic across Iran. Fibre-optic networks can carry large volumes of communications data, so the project concerned an important part of the country’s telecommunications infrastructure. The article does not provide technical capacity or a financial value.

Omran Razavi International Co was the joint venture created for the project. Ghandehari’s Ori Group held 49%, while Astan Quds Razavi held 51%. A related company, Orico General Trading LLC, was contracted to supply telecommunications equipment from France’s Alcatel-Lucent and transport it from Dubai to Iran.

The project became politically significant because telecommunications operate close to Iran’s central leadership. A Rusi expert said it was difficult to work in sectors such as telecoms without acceptance from the core leadership. Ghandehari’s lawyers said the project was intended to expand access to information.

The joint venture ended around 2016, after a change in Astan Quds Razavi’s leadership. A hardliner was appointed to replace Ayatollah Abbas Vaez Tabasi, who had led the foundation from the 1979 revolution until his death. Ghandehari-backed entities were then pushed out of the deal.

The change had wider consequences for the companies involved. Simpson said Iranian extremists took over AQR, the project’s assets were seized, and people involved faced political persecution. He later acquired Orico General Trading LLC and said his plan was to wind down the business and remove hundreds of staff from the region.

The article also says Ghandehari was later targeted by Iran’s supreme national security council. His lawyers described the allegation that he worked with hostile Western powers as false. The episode shows how political leadership changes could rapidly disrupt commercial projects.

The United States imposed sanctions on Astan Quds Razavi in 2021. It said the foundation controlled large parts of Iran’s economy, including assets expropriated from political dissidents and religious minorities. The US also described AQR as a bonyad, a quasi-official organisation generally controlled by officials and clerics reporting directly to Ali Khamenei.

In general, sanctions are government restrictions designed to penalise or isolate a person or organisation. They can block property under the sanctioning country’s jurisdiction and restrict financial transactions, services, or dealings with designated entities. The exact measures depend on the sanctions programme.

For AQR, the designation increased the risks for foreign businesses dealing with it. That matters for Ghandehari’s earlier partnership because his companies worked with the foundation before the US sanctions. The article does not state that Ghandehari himself was sanctioned.

Separating private business from government power can be difficult in Iran because many large organisations are quasi-official foundations controlled by officials and clerics. The article describes these bonyads as opaque bodies that report directly to the supreme leader. They can hold major economic assets while appearing separate from formal government departments.

Astan Quds Razavi illustrates the problem. It owned 51% of a fibre-optic venture, while Ghandehari’s group owned 49%. The project also involved telecoms equipment supplied by Alcatel-Lucent. Tom Keatinge of Rusi said the private sector was not free to operate independently and that telecoms were difficult to enter without acceptance from the core leadership.

This blurring creates legal and political risks for foreign and private investors. A deal may look commercial but still involve powerful state-linked interests. Ghandehari’s lawyers said his project sought political change through greater information access, while later allegations and asset seizures showed the dangers involved.