Report: 4,000 Children of Iranian Regime Officials Living Abroad

Iran’s so-called Headquarters for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has asserted that some 3,000 to 4,000 children of Islamic Republic officials currently reside abroad.

Headquarters secretary-general Mohammad Saleh Hashemi Golpayegani wrote to the Iranian parliament about the matter on Saturday, saying he was waiting for MPs to intervene.

A report by ILNA News Agency quoted Hashemi Golpayegani as having rebuked some officials for hypocrisy, saying: “People cannot loudly declare the country’s independence but seek to provide euros and dollars to their children.”

In June the IRGC reported a similar figure, with the Guards’ head of ground operations reporting 4,000 children of officials lived in the US, Europe and Canada alone.

The often luxury lifestyles that children of high-ranking Iranian officials – sometimes known as “Aghazadehs” – enjoy abroad has long been the subject of media scrutiny in Iran and outside.

Before the pandemic, the topic had become so sensitive MPs were drafting legislation that, if approved, would have blocked the first-degree relatives of government officials from entering “hostile” countries. This has yet to be revisited since Covid-19.