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.»

The Trump administration’s anticipated multibillion-dollar funding request to bolster its Iran campaign could face resistance from GOP fiscal hawks.

Though congressional Republicans have been broadly supportive of the Trump administration’s conflict in Iran, some conservatives are drawing a red line that an emergency cash infusion, known as a supplemental, cannot increase budget deficits. Multiple House Freedom Caucus members, for example, told Fox News Digital that such a funding bill would have to be made up for by cutting spending elsewhere.

«I think the big thing there is going to be making sure that there’s a pay-for,» Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., told Fox News Digital. 

«I’d like to see how this is paid for,» Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., said, adding that he’d like to see Iran ultimately cover the costs. 

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Neither the president nor Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth has attempted to dispute reports Thursday that the administration is considering an infusion of roughly $200 billion to help finance the Iran campaign and restore depleted munitions. However, no formal request has been sent to congressional leaders yet.

«Our national debt just surpassed $39 trillion. A potential supplemental for Operation Epic Fury — or any supplemental funding for that matter — must be offset,» Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., told Fox News Digital when asked about the prospective $200 billion request. 

Clyde said he supported the mission but that any resources Congress signs off on must be done «in a fiscally responsible manner.»

Meanwhile, another House conservative granted anonymity to speak freely about the Freedom Caucus’s thinking told Fox News Digital that fiscal hawks were likely to be «skeptical» about the price tag.

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«America isn’t signing up for a $200 billion war. The White House needs to give details of a plan regarding boots on the ground and how much is for replenishing our own arsenal, and how it’s being paid for,» that lawmaker said.

With Democrats’ expected opposition to an Iran supplemental, some Republicans believe putting defense spending in a second «big, beautiful bill» via the budget reconciliation process could be the path of least resistance for the GOP.

Top congressional Democrats were sharply critical of a massive supplemental Thursday — a position that could harden if the conflict drags on.

«They are certainly not going to spend an additional dime on the military, on security, on any of the things that we care about,» Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital in an interview last week, referring to Democrats. «This conflict right now and the future of our country and our Western values have to be secured by additional defense spending, which can only happen in a reconciliation bill.»

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth speaks during the inaugural Americas Counter Cartel Conference at the U.S. Southern Command Headquarters in Doral, Fla., on March 5, 2026. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Pfluger did not comment specifically on the prospective $200 billion request when asked on Friday, but he reaffirmed his support for another reconciliation bill. He also pointed out that reconciliation means that the new spending would be mostly or fully paid for.

«Iran is the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world, and I strongly support the administration’s efforts to ensure the United States and our allies cannot be threatened,» he said in a statement to Fox News Digital. «The pathway for additional military funding could be through a second reconciliation bill, with commonsense offsets that ensure the president’s request is fully paid for. Our warfighters will not be left waiting while the left plays politics with national security.»

The budget reconciliation process allows the majority party to steer around the Senate’s 60-vote requirement and pass legislation via a simple majority. Republicans used the legislative maneuver to advance Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act through Congress in the first half of 2025.

Budget reconciliation would also allow Republicans to identify offsets to a substantial increase in defense spending. However, intraparty divisions are likely to emerge over spending cuts.

There is also skepticism among some Republicans that the Pentagon needs a massive infusion of money.

The «big, beautiful bill» gave $150 billion to the Pentagon. The president has also requested a $1.5 trillion defense budget for the upcoming fiscal year — more than a 50% increase from current levels. 

President Donald Trump, joined by Republican lawmakers, signs the One, Big Beautiful Bill Act into law during an Independence Day military family picnic on the South Lawn of the White House on July 4, 2025. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

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Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital that he would like to see the specifics of the supplemental request before committing to supporting one.

«The DoD hasn’t passed an audit for a while,» Self said. «I would like for them to scrub things before they start asking for more money after the $150 billion and before the appropriations get passed.»

And some Republicans are doubtful that the House GOP’s razor-thin majority will be able to pass any reconciliation bill at all, particularly in an election year.

«We’ll see,» Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., who’s already signaled skepticism over the prospect of a second reconciliation bill, told Fox News Digital when asked specifically about military funding in such a vehicle.

And Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., told Fox News Digital of a second reconciliation bill, «I don’t know how well the prospects are, because there’s some people saying that we aren’t going to do it, and given our small majority, it’s going to be challenging.»

La familia Castro sigue manejando los hilos de la Revolución cubana más allá de que el clan no ejerza hoy el poder formal en la isla.

Sin Fidel Castro, que murió en 2016, y con un Raúl Castro (94) retirado, Cuba volvió a imponer al linaje fundador de la Revolución para buscar una salida al laberinto que los metió Donald Trump.

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El presidente estadounidense y su secretario de Estado, Marco Rubio, están convencidos de que Miguel Díaz-Canel tiene los días contados. Es el precio que le exigen a Cuba para evitar un violento “cambio de régimen”, aunque lo nieguen en público. La Casa Blanca necesita que alguien pague el precio y el elegido es el presidente más impopular en la historia de la Revolución cubana.

Como en Venezuela, Trump no está interesado en arrasar con el sistema político. Solo quiere que la isla se someta a los intereses y negocios estadounidenses. Por eso conversa directamente con los Castro y no parece importarle que la familia vuelva a ejercer el poder central y deje de actuar, como hasta ahora, en las sombras.

La pregunta es si el clan estaría dispuesto a sacrificar a Díaz-Canel, su fiel, pero cuestionado “delfín”, si eso garantiza la supervivencia de la Revolución.

Por qué Marco Rubio negocia con los Castro

Cuba vive hoy bajo la presión máxima de Trump. El bloqueo petrolero total que le impuso a la isla se suma al embargo vigente desde 1961. El país atraviesa un colapso energético. Con apagones masivos y sin transporte, las protestas se están extendiendo por toda la isla.

Por las noches suenan las cacerolas en distintos barrios de La Habana. El 14 de marzo, un grupo de manifestantes provocó un incendio en la sede municipal del Partido Comunista en la ciudad de Morón, en el centro del país. Los cubanos están en modo supervivencia y dispuestos a seguir movilizados.

“No exagero. La situación es realmente catastrófica. Las mipymes (micro, pequeñas y medianas empresas privadas) y las remesas y productos enviados por familiares y amigos están ayudando, pero la mayor parte de la población no los recibe”, dijo a TN la periodista independiente Miriam Leiva, residente en La Habana.

En ese escenario terminal, un equipo especial liderado por Rubio, de origen cubano, negocia directamente con la familia Castro. El “intermediario” es Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, alias “El Cangrejo” y nieto preferido de Raúl. Lo llaman así porque nació con seis dedos.

Una reunión bilateral se llevó a cabo a principios de marzo en la isla caribeña de Saint Kitts y Nevis. La misión estadounidense le entregó una lista de exigencias, entre las que estaría la salida de Díaz-Canel, según la prensa del exilio y The New York Times.

Rubio lo negó, pero el presidente cubano no es una pieza irremplazable para el desgastado engranaje cubano.

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Pocos días después llegó la primera señal desde La Habana. El ministro de Comercio Exterior e Inversión Extranjera, Oscar Pérez-Oliva, anunció que los emigrados y sus descendientes podrán invertir y abrir negocios en Cuba, algo inédito y largamente esperado en Miami.

Pérez Oliva no es un funcionario irrelevante. Es miembro del clan. Es nieto de Ángela Castro Ruz, hermana mayor de Raúl y Fidel, sus tíos abuelos.

La trilogía de los Castro que podrían comandar una transición se completa con el general de brigada Alejandro Castro Espín, de 60 años, único hijo varón de Raúl. Su madre es la “heroína” Vilma Espín, exguerrillera de la lucha contra la dictadura de Fulgencio Batista fallecida en 2007. Fue uno de los negociadores cubanos que llevaron al restablecimiento de relaciones diplomáticas con Washington en 2015.

Pero hay una cuarta opción, un as en la manga que la Revolución cubana podría utilizar por fuera de la familia Castro: la vice primera ministra Inés María Chapman.

Quién es Inés María Chapman

El nombre de Inés María Chapman comenzó a sonar fuerte para una eventual transición en algunos círculos del exilio cubano. De 60 años e ingeniera hidráulica, es un respetado cuadro femenino de la Revolución.

Actualmente, es vice primera ministra y vicepresidenta del Consejo de Estado y de Ministros. Además, es miembro del comité central del Partido Comunista y diputada nacional.

“Ha dirigido la recuperación hidráulica al lado del vice primer ministro Ramiro Valdés. Ha sido la mujer más relevante en los últimos años. Parece tener el apoyo de Raúl Castro. Es de hablar pausado y escucha opiniones. Es afrocubana, lo que cubre el interés por acercar a la población negra y mestiza. Viaja por las obras hidráulicas de todo el país, habla con los trabajadores y aconseja en voz baja, pero firme“, dijo Leiva.

Además, afirmó: “Cuando el ciclón golpeó Guantánamo hasta Moa, en la provincia de Holguín, ella permaneció allí, de un lado a otro con los dirigentes del partido y la población”.

El portal opositor 14ymedio, dirigido por la periodista disidente Yaoani Sánchez, la elogió en una nota publicada a fines de diciembre. “En un gabinete dominado por hombres que suelen hablar de lo que no funciona como si fueran comentaristas ajenos al desastre, ella encarna el raro caso de quien todavía aparenta creer en el orden, la gestión y la responsabilidad”.

“Dentro del reducido círculo del poder, Chapman ha despertado interés por algo que escasea en las alturas del Partido Comunista: competencia técnica. Mujer en un engranaje de testosterona, disciplinada en un entorno que prefiere las consignas, ha logrado construir una marca personal que la ubica, para algunos, entre los nombres ‘presidenciables’“, escribió.

Pero tiene algo que le juega en contra. “No pertenece a ninguna de las familias históricas que controlan los resortes esenciales del país, un entramado de clanes que reparten ministerios, empresas militares y embajadas como si fueran herencias privadas”, indicó el portal.

El activista y dramaturgo Yunior Garcia, exiliado en España tras convertirse en la voz de las protestas del 11 y 12 de julio de 2021 en La Habana, dijo a TN: “Inés María Chapman es uno de los nombres que se menciona (ante una eventual salida de Díaz-Canel), sobre todo por su perfil y además porque no ha tenido declaraciones tan fuertes”.

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“Ella no ha sido objeto de odio por parte de la población cubana, que ha enfocado más su odio por supuesto en la familia de los Castro, en Díaz-Canel, que ha sido como una especie de capataz de la finca durante estos años y en algunas otras figuras del régimen”, afirmó.

Para García, “es probable que Estados Unidos la tenga identificada como una figura importante que podría encabezar una transición”.

Ahora hay que ver si Trump se decanta por la familia Castro o una alternativa como Chapman para liderar una transición hacia un modelo empresarial y capitalista, como exige la Casa Blanca. O si la Revolución está dispuesta a resistir hasta las últimas consecuencias a las imposiciones del presidente republicano en un escenario de protestas y hartazgo creciente.

“Obviamente, la única figura que está capacitada para negociar con Estados Unidos es Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, el nieto de Raúl y parte de su escolta. Es realmente la figura que encarna el poder de los Castro. Evidentemente, es la persona que está representando los intereses de los Castro y la que probablemente esté liderando el país”, concluyó.