Iran's elite have been accused of hypocrisy after it was revealed they send their children to live abroad to escape the regime's repression which they help enforce. Opposition campaigners claim the top figures are using the country's wealth to fund their adult children's lives in places such as the US, UK and Canada. Anger at these elites, also known as 'aghazadehs' has been widespread after anti-regime protests saw thousands killed in the streets last month. Alex Vatanka, the Iran programme director at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said: 'People are upset that the aghazadehs are getting dollar stipends to go to the west - the United States, Europe elsewhere - to study essentially on the state's dime.' In 2024, around 4,000 children and relatives of regime officials were believed to be living abroad in the west, according to one IRGC commander who spoke against the practice.
The elites under fire include Ali Larijani, Iran's top national security adviser. A former senior Revolutionary Guard, Larijani is believed to have played a major role in the deadly protest crackdown. Meanwhile, his daughter Fatemeh Ardeshir Larijani lives in the US and he has two nephews in the UK and Canada, despite the politician being a fierce critic of western values. Fatemeh was an assistant professor at Emory University medical school in Atlanta; however, her employment was terminated in January after an online petition called for her to be deported. Larijani's brother Mohammad-Javad Larijani, who is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's foreign affairs adviser, also has family living abroad. His son Hadi is a professor at Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland and Hadi's brother lives in Vancouver and works as a director for the Royal Bank of Canada.
Former Iranian president Hassan Rouhani's niece, Maryam Fereydoun, also lives in the UK and works for Deutsche Bank in London reportedly 'overseeing financial flows from the Middle East'. Several children of major Iranian figures live in the US; however, they may run into problems as Washington said it would 'revoke the privilege of Iranian senior officials and their family members to be in the United States' following the protests. This could affect people like Eissa Hashemi, an associate professor at the Chicago School in Los Angeles. He is the son of former MP Masoumeh Ebtekar, also known as 'screaming Mary' for being the spokesperson for students who held 52 diplomats hostage in the US Embassy in Tehran in 1979. Former energy minister Habibollah Bitaraf and former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also both have children living in the US.
Zarif's son Mahdi Zarif reportedly lives 'a luxurious life in the United States,' according to a petition online, the Guardian reports. 'Until 2021, he resided in a $16,000,000 home in Manhattan,' it states. Meanwhile, Elias Ghalibaf, the eldest son of former IRGC commander Mohammad-Baqer Ghalibaf lives all the way in Australia. Khamenei himself has several relatives in Britain and France, including his nephew Mahmoud Moradkhani, while the grandchildren of the founder of the Islamic revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini, have settled in Canada. Vatanka slammed the hypocrisy of this practice, saying: 'You have an Islamist ruling order that for 47 years has been preaching all sorts of ways to behave, and we then see, one after another, children or grandchildren of the members of the elite living a very different life than the one their politically connected families back in Iran are preaching.' Last month, as thousands of ordinary Iranians were killed for daring to challenge the powerful families who run the Islamic Republic, the children of these leaders were seen flaunting lives of extraordinary luxury on social media.
Some of the sons and daughters of the men ordering the crackdown posed in photos with designer handbags, supercars, and private jets. Sasha Sobhani, the son of a former Iranian ambassador to Venezuela under President Ahmadinejad, has built a profile flaunting super-yachts, private jets, fast cars and lavish parties with scantily clad women. Unlike many elite figures who keep a lower profile, Sobhani has repeatedly taunted critics while broadcasting his lifestyle from abroad, spending time in countries including Spain and the United Arab Emirates. The sons of Ali Shamkhani, the senior adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, similarly live in luxury abroad. Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani and his brother Hassan live in Dubai and run a global shipping empire. During the unrest, wealthy Iranians were seen decamping to neighbouring Turkey to party and socialise away from the violence, fearing they could be targeted as protests engulfed the country. The province of Van in far-eastern Turkey, which shares a mountainous border with Iran, has become a popular destination, with elite Iranians gathering in bars and nightclubs as demonstrations were crushed back home.
On Tuesday during his State of the Union address, US President Donald Trump revealed the 'secret words' he needs to hear from Iran if they are to avoid all-out war. The president told lawmakers that Iran's leadership must vow never to pursue a nuclear bomb, a demand he claimed was essential for Middle East security. Trump pointed to Iran's deadly crackdown on anti-regime protesters as evidence of the regime's brutality. He also boasted that US strikes last summer wiped out Tehran's uranium enrichment capabilities during the 12-day war with Israel. The President then revealed the key to holding off a war. 'We are in negotiations with them. They want to make a deal, but we haven't heard those secret words: "We will never have a nuclear weapon."' 'My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy,' Trump added as lawmakers applauded. 'But one thing is certain. I will never allow the world's number one sponsor of terror to which they are by far to have a nuclear weapon. Can't let that happen.' Trump in recent weeks has amassed the largest US military force in the Middle East since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Diplomatic negotiations led by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are currently ongoing with Iranian envoys. Both countries are expected to meet again on Thursday to secure a deal that avoids further escalation in the region.