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.
