Opposition campaigners claim top figures in regime use state wealth to fund lifestyles counter to those they preach
Members of Iran’s ruling elite have been accused of brazen hypocrisy by allegedly using the state’s wealth to help to fund their adult children’s lives in the west while presiding over growing economic misery and repression at home.
Opposition campaigners made the accusation against some of the clerical regime’s most powerful figures as a military confrontation with the US appears increasingly likely. Donald Trump has deployed a vast armada in the Middle East and confirmed he is considering strikes.
Those singled out for criticism include Ali Larijani, Iran’s top national security adviser, who has a daughter living in the US and two nephews in Britain and Canada, despite having long been one of the Islamic Republic’s most vocal critics of western values.
Larijani – a former parliament speaker and senior Revolutionary Guard – is believed to have played a key role in the deadly crackdown against opposition protests that gripped the country in January. Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, is reported to have tasked him with coordinating preparations for a possible war with the US.
