Khatam al-Anbiya Agrees to Forgo Less Than $53m Projects

The government of President Hassan Rouhani and Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters, an engineering conglomerate affiliated to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, have reached an agreement on the scope of the latter’s engagement in the country’s development projects.

Khatam al-Anbiya, according to Chairman of Majlis Planning and Budget Commission Gholamreza Tajgardoun, will from now on only take on projects that local contractors cannot afford, such as mega projects worth above 2 trillion rials (about $53 million).

Rouhani held a meeting with senior IRGC commanders on Monday, the Persian daily Shargh reported.  

Noting that the government has made substantial contributions to IRGC over the past four years, Tajgardoun said the Rouhani government has lent an unwavering support to defense forces unlike any other administration.

“This comes while the government, due to budgetary constraints, has at times refused to allocate financial resources to other sectors,” he said.  

Tapping into the potential of conglomerates not affiliated to the government such as Khatam al-Anbiya is the same as enjoying “national potential”, said an advisor to Management and Planning Organization of Iran and former parliamentarian, Abouzar Nadimi.

“Given their financial resources, the governments of the past 12 years cooperated with Khatam al-Anbiya. It is not acceptable to compare capital gains from oil sales by the previous government, which was around $100 billion, with those of the current government, which is close to $30 billion. On top of that, we need to bear in mind the additional execution limits of these projects in the current government. The technical and engineering grade of new projects is different from old ones.”  

Khatam al-Anbiya is the largest industrial contractor in Iran. The company, established during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s to help rebuild the country, has over the years diversified into mechanical, engineering, energy, mining and defense sectors. It is also intimately connected to Iran’s oil and gas industry.

The conglomerate was awarded several phases of the South Pars Gas Field during the administration of former president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.