Tres semanas después del estallido de una guerra en Medio Oriente que está sacudiendo los mercados energéticos, Asia se enfrenta a una de las primeras consecuencias importantes de la escasez de petróleo, ya que los precios del combustible para aviones alcanzaron máximos históricos y los gobiernos luchan por mantener los vuelos.

Las aerolíneas cancelaron miles de vuelos, lo que dejó varados a decenas de miles de pasajeros. Los principales proveedores de energía de la región, como China, Corea del Sur y Tailandia, están restringiendo las exportaciones, mientras que los países dependientes de las importaciones, como Vietnam, se ven obligados a racionar y pedir ayuda a otros.

La aceleración del trance ofrece una señal de lo que ocurre cuando el suministro de petróleo se ve repentinamente asfixiado por una crisis inesperada sin un final claro a la vista. El sufrimiento es más agudo en Asia, donde los países dependen del petróleo de Medio Oriente y tienen reservas limitadas, y los expertos advierten que eso puede presagiar más interrupciones si la guerra se prolonga.

“Estamos observando cómo se verá el futuro de la gasolina (nafta) y el diésel (gasoil) si esto no se resuelve”, dijo James Noel-Beswick, responsable de materias primas de la firma de datos Sparta Commodities.

“El combustible de avión es una especie de canario en la mina de carbón”, dijo.

El riesgo de escasez de petróleo se extendió por Asia pocos días después de que Estados Unidos e Israel entraran en guerra contra Irán, lo que paralizó el transporte marítimo a través del estrecho de Ormuz. Alrededor de una quinta parte del petróleo mundial fluye por el estrecho corredor marítimo a lo largo de la costa meridional de Irán y la mayor parte acaba en Asia.

En las ciudades de India, la gente empezó a acaparar gas licuado de petróleo, muy utilizado para cocinar. Bangladés canceló las clases universitarias. Filipinas pasó a una semana laboral de cuatro días. En Vietnam y Tailandia, las gasolineras colgaron el cartel de “agotado” mientras los gobiernos con reservas limitadas imponían medidas de conservación de emergencia.

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Entonces se produjo una conmoción que nadie esperaba. El precio del combustible para aviones superó por primera vez en la historia los 200 dólares por barril, más del doble que antes de la guerra.

“Se trata de niveles sin precedentes”, declaró Nikhil Ravishankar, director ejecutivo de Air New Zealand, a un medio de comunicación local la semana pasada, tras la cancelación de unos 1100 vuelos con fechas que se extienden hasta principios de mayo.

El precio del combustible para aviones subió de forma más rápida y drástica que el del crudo Brent, la referencia mundial del petróleo, que se situó en 108,65 dólares por barril el jueves, lo que supone un aumento de cerca del 50 por ciento desde que empezó la guerra.

El combustible para aviones es a menudo el primer producto petrolífero refinado que escasea, en parte porque se le aplican normas de calidad más estrictas que a otros combustibles. Debe almacenarse en tanques especiales, lo que hace costosas las grandes reservas, y no puede conservarse durante mucho tiempo sin que se degrade. Como consecuencia, hay menos margen para absorber interrupciones del suministro. Y a diferencia de la gasolina o el diésel, que tienen cadenas de suministro más flexibles, el combustible de aviación depende de componentes específicos que son más difíciles de sustituir, lo que deja menos alternativas cuando los suministros se reducen.

La estructura del sistema mundial de combustible agrava el problema. Los países que extraen el crudo no suelen ser los que lo refinan. Corea del Sur, por ejemplo, es un gran exportador de combustible para aviones, pero depende en gran medida del crudo importado, gran parte del cual procede del estrecho de Ormuz.

Países como Australia redujeron su capacidad de refinado a lo largo de los años, lo que los hace más dependientes no solo del petróleo importado, sino también de la voluntad y capacidad de otros países para refinarlo y venderlo.

China fue uno de los primeros países en restringir las exportaciones de productos refinados del petróleo, incluido el combustible para aviones, días después del comienzo de los combates el mes pasado. La medida repercutió en toda la región, donde China suministra al menos la mitad del combustible que se consume en algunos países.

En los últimos días, Tailandia, uno de los principales proveedores de Vietnam, prohibió temporalmente ciertas exportaciones de combustible, incluido el de aviación, mientras que Corea del Sur limitó las exportaciones de algunos productos de gasolina y diésel, lo que redujo aún más el suministro de combustible de aviación, ya que las refinerías dan prioridad a la demanda interna.

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“Hemos visto una prohibición de las exportaciones de productos del crudo, y China ha sido una de las primeras en hacerlo”, dijo Neil Beveridge, director de investigación de Bernstein, una firma de estudios de mercado, citando conversaciones con comerciantes y empresas del sector petrolero. Estas medidas llevaron a las empresas a acaparar petróleo ante la expectativa de que la situación solo empeoraría, dijo.

En Vietnam, el temor a una subida de los precios y a la escasez de combustible ha sembrado el pánico. Cientos de conductores de motocicletas, el principal medio de transporte del país, han hecho fila hasta altas horas de la noche a las afueras de las gasolineras de Hanói.

La situación es tan grave que el ministro de Asuntos Exteriores y el primer ministro de Vietnam se reunieron con embajadores y funcionarios de alto rango de China, Corea del Sur, Tailandia, Japón y los Emiratos Árabes Unidos para instarlos a ayudar, compartiendo incluso el acceso a las reservas estratégicas.

Casi tres cuartas partes del combustible de aviación de Vietnam se importan, sobre todo de China y Tailandia. La Autoridad de Aviación Civil de Vietnam advirtió esta semana que podría producirse escasez de combustible para aviones ya en abril. Las aerolíneas vietnamitas están considerando aumentos de tarifas y reducciones de vuelos para hacer frente al aumento de los costos y la escasez de suministros. Incluso con precios más altos, conseguir combustible adicional sigue siendo un gran reto.

“El acceso al suministro de combustible es extremadamente difícil en estos momentos, ya que depende totalmente de factores externos, en particular del conflicto en Medio Oriente”, dijo Bui Ngoc Bao, presidente de la Asociación Vietnamita del Petróleo.

Para Australia, la actual conmoción es una situación señalada desde hace tiempo como una vulnerabilidad debido a la dependencia nacional de las importaciones, incluso en la propia revisión del gobierno. El país importa el 90 por ciento de su combustible y, según el ministro de Energía, a principios de marzo disponía de 32 días de combustible para aviones.

Los medios de comunicación locales informaron que al menos un buque cisterna de combustible con destino a Australia no había podido cargar en un puerto chino a mediados de marzo, lo que avivó los temores de escasez.

El jueves, el primer ministro, Anthony Albanese, aseguró a la población que el suministro de combustible seguía siendo seguro y atribuyó la escasez a las compras de pánico, señalando que la demanda se había más que duplicado en algunas regiones. Al mismo tiempo, anunció un grupo de trabajo para la seguridad del combustible, y dijo que quería que el país estuviera “preparado de sobra”.

Como parte de las medidas, Australia también mantendrá en el país una mayor cantidad del combustible de producción nacional, dijo.

“El conflicto es una sacudida sin precedentes para los mercados energéticos mundiales”, dijo Albanese, y añadió: “Los australianos ya están notando las consecuencias”.

El director ejecutivo del aeropuerto de Sidney, que representa el 40 por ciento del consumo de combustible de aviación del país, dijo la semana pasada que el aeropuerto suele tener reservas para unos 25 días. Pero la fiabilidad de esas reservas “depende de las rutas marítimas internacionales, de la capacidad mundial de refinado y de la estabilidad geopolítica”, dijo el ejecutivo, Scott Charlton, en declaraciones en una cumbre sobre combustibles renovables.

Sobre la guerra que ahora pone en peligro todos esos frentes, dijo: “Se nos recuerda rápidamente lo interconectadas que están la energía, la aviación y la geopolítica”.

Por Alexandra Stevenson, Aaron Krolik, Tung Ngo y Victoria Kim.

FIRST ON FOX: Jim Steyer — the brother of billionaire California gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer — has multiple board members with ties to Jeffrey Epstein involved in his children’s online safety organization, Common Sense Media (CSM), which could set off alarm bells as wealthy elites continue to face a reckoning for exchanging emails with Epstein or riding on his private jet.

CSM, which will be hosting a conference next week that will include many industry experts and Democratic politicians as speakers, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Illinois Gov JB Pritzker, is a nonprofit organization with the stated goal of putting children’s «well-being first in the digital era,» and providing parental guidance while also providing a forum for industry experts to discuss how to safeguard minors online.

While none of the previously reported ties between the board members and Epstein implicate them in any wrongdoing related to his crimes, the optics of their past communications could raise questions about the judgment of some of their past interactions with him and the vetting process to be on the board.

«Having reviewed the related references here, we have no concerns about these individuals.  Common Sense Media remains the leading non-partisan children’s advocacy organization dedicated to protecting and promoting the best interest of America’s children and families,» a CSM spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

WATCH: HILLARY CLINTON STORMS OUT OF EPSTEIN DEPOSITION AFTER HOUSE LAWMAKER LEAKS PHOTO FROM INSIDE

The Steyer brothers have not appeared in the Epstein emails and have not been accused of any wrongdoing.

WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM FACES FRESH SCRUTINY AS EPSTEIN TIES REVIVE PAST SCANDALS, CRITICISM

Tim Zagat

Tim Zagat, the founder and former CEO of Zagat Survey, a fine dining rating service, was reported by the New York Post to have repeatedly visited dining establishments with Epstein and is listed in Epstein’s flight logbook — a revelation uncovered by recent disclosures from the Department of Justice.

Zagat also reportedly attended a dinner at Epstein’s Upper East Side mansion in 2014, which included Hollywood director Woody Allen and his wife Soon-Yi Previn, former Hyatt hotels boss Nick Pritzker, who is Democratic Illinois Governor JB Pritzker’s cousin once removed, among others. Several emails reviewed by Fox News Digital show that Zagat reached out to Epstein to invite him to meals on multiple occasions.

He is also listed on a flight entry from 2002 on Epstein’s notorious «Lolita Express» private jet that appears to match up with a late-February trip to a TED conference in California.

Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in federal custody in 2019. (New York State Sex Offender Registry via AP, File)

«JE. SK. GERALDINE LAYBORNE. KIT LAYBORNE. STEVEN PINKER. NINA TIM ZAGAT,» the entry reads, listing off a series of passengers.

The entry is unclear if the «JE» reference indicates Epstein himself was on the flight. 

What is clear, however, is that the flight included one other CSM board member.

Geraldine Laybourne

Geraldine Laybourne who served as president of Nickelodeon from 1984 to 1996, was also mentioned as a passenger on one of the 2002 entries. In the past, Laybourne has claimed she did not know the plane belonged to Epstein but that she had simply accepted a flight from New York to Monterey, California.

«We said yes. We did not know whose plane it was or who Jeffrey Epstein was,» Laybourne told the Daily Beast in 2023.

WATCH: BILL CLINTON GRILLED ON SHIRTLESS HOT TUB PHOTO AMID SWIRLING QUESTIONS ON EPSTEIN RELATIONSHIP

Howard Gardner

In another case, CSM brought on Howard Gardner, a celebrated scholar best known for his research on education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, who maintained contact with Epstein long after news of his crimes had surfaced.

Gardner had lengthy correspondence with Epstein, according to reporting from Bloomberg. Gardner’s name appears at least 380 times in the DOJ’s Epstein disclosures. Most are email communications or logistical arrangements.

In one email, Epstein described planned outings with Gardner.

«I am having a ‘smart day’ at Harvard. Larry Summers – finance. Chomsky – language. Eric Lander, George Church – genetics. Howard Gardner – intelligence,» Epstein wrote, referring to various experts and their areas of study.

Gardner told The Harvard Crimson last year that «Once [Epstein] had been arrested, I made it clear to him that I could no longer accept any funding but, as a friend and beneficiary of his philanthropy, I tried to be supportive.»

«Of course, no one I knew (which included dozens of Harvard faculty) had any idea of the nature and extent of Epstein’s crimes, which only became clear in the following years,» he continued.

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Cyrus Vance Jr.

Cyrus Vance Jr., a former district attorney for Manhattan from 2010 to 2021, joined CSM’s board in 2024 despite past backlash after his office’s insistence in 2011 that Epstein should receive more lenient treatment.

Specifically, Vance’s office argued that Epstein should be designated a Level 1 sex offender — a reduction from level 3, the classification reserved for high-level threats.

The judge overseeing the case was reportedly taken aback by the request, according to court transcripts.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. opened an investigation into Trump and his family’s businesses in 2019. (Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images) (Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

«I have to tell you, I am a little overwhelmed because I have never seen the prosecutor’s office do anything like this. I have done many [cases], much less troubling than this one, where the People would never make a downward argument like this,» Judge Ruth Pickholz said.

Epstein, at that point, had already been convicted of sexual misconduct with minors in 2008.

In response to a request for comment, Vance said he had no knowledge of Epstein’s prior case due to an error in the case. After becoming aware of the case, Vance said he pursued the most stringent restrictions possible for Epstein.

«I have never met, or communicated with Mr. Epstein in any form,» Vance said in a comment.

Vance’s office also received backlash for not prosecuting disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein in 2015, two years before the «MeToo» movement took him down. 

Chelsea Clinton

Finally, Chelsea Clinton, vice chair of the Clinton Foundation, has served on the CSM board for over a decade. She, too, had a brush with Epstein that garnered public attention when Ghislaine Maxwell — an accomplice of Epstein — attended her wedding.

Maxwell had attended at the invitation of Ted Waitt, a donor to the Clinton Foundation, according to later statements from Hillary Clinton.

But reporting from Politico suggested the one-off went deeper. Politico reported that sources had said the pair had been «incredibly close.»

Chelsea Clinton is seen with her mother, Hillary Clinton, at a campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, November 8, 2016. (Reuters)

Chelsea Clinton has repeatedly pushed back against those characterizations.

«It wasn’t until 2015 that Chelsea [her husband] Marc became aware of the horrific allegations against Ghislaine Maxwell and hope that all the victims find justice. Chelsea and Marc were friendly with her because of her relationship with a dear friend of theirs. When that relationship ended, Chelsea’s friendship with her ended as well,» a person familiar with the relationship told Politico.

Both of Chelsea’s parents, Bill and Hillary Clinton, recently went viral after they were interviewed by the House Oversight Committee about their previous longtime relationship with Epstein and Maxwell.

In addition to the board members, CSM includes the Gates Foundation as one of its foundation partners. The foundation’s co-founder, Bill Gates, who is the chair of the board, has repeatedly been tied to Epstein through their email communications and meetings over several years, which Gates called «foolish» earlier this year. 

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates attends a dinner hosted by President Donald Trump with technology leaders in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., Sept. 4, 2025. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

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«In retrospect, I was foolish to spend any time with him,» Gates said of Epstein. «I think I was quite stupid. I thought it would help me with global health philanthropy. In fact, it failed to do that. It was just a huge mistake.»

He is expected to show up for a transcribed interview with the House Oversight Committee in May.

Fox Digital reached out to the Steyer campaign and the five board members for comment. The Steyer brothers have not 

For decades, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and ruling clerical elite have relied on a system critics say is as strategic as it is cynical: denounce the West in public, while quietly securing a future there for their own families.

«The Islamic regime in Iran is corrupt to its core,» Kasra Aarabi, director of IRGC research at United Against Nuclear Iran, told Fox News Digital. «While regime clerics and IRGC commanders violently Islamize Iranian society and export anti-Americanism globally, their sons and daughters live lavish lifestyles on blood money in Western capitals.»

Iranian journalist Banafsheh Zand still remembers the girl from her school, the kind of memory that only becomes meaningful years later, when a familiar face reappears in a completely different context.

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They sat together in classrooms at Tehran’s elite Iranzamin School, an institution designed for the children of diplomats and Iran’s upper class, where students spoke multiple languages and moved easily between cultures. The girl was quiet and studious, already shaped in part by years spent in the United States, where she had lived as a child and picked up fluent English that would later define her public role.

Years later, Zand would see her again, not across a desk or in a school hallway, but on television screens around the world. Her former classmate had become the voice of the 1979 U.S. embassy hostage crisis.

The girl was Masoumeh Ebtekar, the English-speaking spokesperson for the extremists who held 52 Americans hostages for 444 days, and who would go on to defend the takeover of the U.S. embassy and later describe it as «the best move» for the revolution.

And yet, decades later, the story did not end in Tehran. It continued, quietly and almost predictably, in California.

Masoumeh Ebtekar, the English-speaking face of the 1979 U.S. embassy hostage crisis, later rose to senior roles in Iran’s government while her family built ties to life in the West. (Vahid Salemi/AP Photo)

A life far from the revolution

Ebtekar son, Eissa Hashemi, was living in the United States, pursuing graduate studies and eventually building a career in academia in Los Angeles, Zand exposed on her substack «Iran So Far Away» — a trajectory that stands in stark contrast to the ideology his mother helped articulate to the world. 

For Zand, this is not an anecdote or an isolated irony, but a window into how the system itself functions.

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«They take the money from corruption inside the country and use it to live a better life elsewhere,» she said. «It’s not a few cases. It’s how they operate.»

What Zand is describing is widely referred to inside Iran as the «aghazadeh» phenomenon, a term used for the children of the Iranian regime’s elite who live lives of privilege abroad while their families enforce ideological restrictions at home, and who have come to symbolize for many Iranians the gap between the regime’s rhetoric and its reality.

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Former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami (L) gives a certificate of appreciation to leading reformist politician Saeed Hajjarian during the annual congress of the Islamic Iran Participation Front in Tehran December 4, 2008.  (Caren Firouz/Reuters)

A three-tier network inside the West

Exiled Iranian journalist Mehdi Ghadimi, now based in Canada, argues that this phenomenon is structured. 

«When we talk about the presence of agents of the Islamic Republic, especially the IRGC, here in Canada, we should understand this is not random,» Ghadimi told Fox News Digital. «It operates in layers.»

The system functions as a three-tiered structure that allows regime-linked individuals to embed themselves across Western societies, according to Ghadimi, beginning with those who arrive as students and academics, often presenting themselves as ordinary immigrants while maintaining ties to the regime or its security apparatus.

«They come as students or professors,» he said, «but many have prior connections to the IRGC, and part of their role is to normalize the Islamic Republic in universities and gather information on activists.»

A billboard depicting Iran’s supreme leaders since 1979: (L to R) Ayatollahs Ruhollah Khomeini (until 1989), Ali Khamenei (until 2026), and Mojtaba Khamenei (incumbent) is displayed above a highway in Tehran on March 10, 2026. Iran marked the appointment of Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei to replace his father as its supreme leader on March 9, 2026.  (AFP/Via Getty Images)

That category includes individuals identified in recent reporting across U.S. campuses, such as Leila Khatami, daughter of former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami at Union College in New York, Zeinab Hajjarian, the daughter of Saeed Hajjarian, a founder of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence, at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, according to a March 18 New York Post report.

The second layer, Ghadimi explained, is financial, consisting of former insiders and trusted affiliates who enter Western countries as investors or business figures, often carrying significant capital that raises questions about its origin.

«In Iran, a monthly salary might be $100 or $200, while an apartment costs $100,000,» he said. «So when someone arrives with millions, they are not an ordinary individual.»

These individuals, he said, often serve as conduits for moving money out of Iran, operating under the cover of private enterprise while maintaining ties to the system that enabled their wealth. «They change their professional status and enter as private-sector investors,» he said. «But they are trusted by the system.»

The third layer involves individuals who receive explicit approval from the regime to move large sums abroad, a process that, according to Ghadimi, requires a «green light» from the security apparatus and often comes with expectations in return. «In order to move that level of money, you need permission,» he said, «and in return, they help finance networks connected to the regime.»

A woman holds an Iranian flag during the funeral and burial of Ali Shamkhani at Imamzadeh Saleh in northern Tehran, Iran, on March 14, 2026. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

One of the most prominent examples is Mahmoud Reza Khavari, the former chairman of Bank Melli Iran, who fled the country in 2011 after the bank was implicated in a roughly $2.6 billion embezzlement scandal, one of the largest corruption cases in Iran’s history.

Khavari later settled in Canada, where public reporting shows that he and his family acquired millions of dollars in real estate, including properties in Toronto, where he remains more than a decade later.

For Zand, the pattern is unmistakable. 

«It’s a mafia structure,» she said.

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Ali Larijani, addresses a press conference in Tehran, Iran. Larijani, a top Iranian security official and a conservative force within Iran’s theocracy, was killed in an Israeli strike on March 17, 2026. (Henghameh Fahimi/AFP via Getty Images)

A global footprint: from Atlanta to London

As previously reported by Fox News Digital, Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani, the daughter of senior Iranian political figure Ali Larijani and a conservative force within Iran’s theocracy, who was killed in an Israeli strike this week, held a position at Emory University’s Winship Cancer Institute in Atlanta before leaving earlier this year following public pressure.

At the same time, a February 2026 report by The Guardian highlighted how relatives of Iranian elites have built lives not only in the United States, but also in Britain and Canada, including members of the Larijani family and relatives of other senior officials, even as the regime continues to position itself in opposition to the West.

Thousands of relatives of Iranian officials were believed to be living across Western countries, IranWire reported in 2022, though precise figures remain difficult to independently verify, underscoring both the scale of the phenomenon and the opacity of the system behind it.

«The problem is even more visible in Europe,» Aarabi said, «Governments, not least the U.K., have turned a blind eye.»

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In this picture obtained from Iran’s ISNA news agency, Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, looks on in Tehran on October 13, 2024.  (Hamed JAFARNEJAD / ISNA / AFP via Getty Images)

Power, assets and the next generation

Mojtaba Khamenei, who is slated as the country’s new supreme leader, has been linked to a network of overseas assets, including high-value real estate in Europe. 

A March 2026 investigation by The Times of London, identified two luxury apartments in London’s Kensington neighborhood, acquired in 2014 and 2016 through intermediaries, that sit directly adjacent to the Israeli Embassy compound.

The findings are part of a broader probe into Khamenei’s alleged overseas holdings, with a Bloomberg investigation estimating a portfolio spanning multiple countries and totaling roughly $138 million in assets across Europe and the Gulf, pending verification of full ownership structures.

«He has been operating behind the scenes, managing a large part of the Revolutionary Guard’s security and economic cartel,» Ghadimi said. «His hands are deeply stained with corruption and crimes, and the same Revolutionary Guard is now the main force backing his rise.»

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A person holds an image of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as Iranian demonstrators protest against the U.S.-Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 28, 2026.  (Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters)

A system Iranians themselves cannot escape

Inside Iran, the contrast with everyday life is stark. Women are arrested for violating dress codes, protesters are jailed and economic hardship has deepened across much of the population. Outside Iran, the children of the elite live differently.

«They’re telling people how to live, what to wear, what to believe,» Zand said. «But their own families don’t live like that.»

For her, the issue is not only hypocrisy, but strategy. «It’s also about influence,» she said. «They integrate into societies, they build networks, they learn how the West works.»

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Pro-government demonstrators burn an American flag at Tehran University, on June 19, 2009 in Tehran, Iran.  (Getty Images)

Aarabi believes Western governments have failed to respond accordingly. «The Islamic regime’s oligarchs should be treated no differently from Putin’s oligarchs,» he said. «The West should identify, sanction and deport these individuals.»