Political activist Lawdan Bazargan highlights a truth Iranians know well: the Islamic Republic’s rulers demand sacrifice, isolation, and ideological loyalty from the public—while their own families build comfortable futures in the West.
IRAN INTERNATIONAL -- For 46 years, Tehran’s leadership has portrayed the regime as morally superior and self-reliant. Ordinary Iranians are told to endure sanctions, economic collapse, and restrictions as a patriotic duty. Yet the children of Iran’s political, military, and clerical elite overwhelmingly choose life in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia.
This has become known inside Iran as the “diaspora of privilege.”
Examples fill every corner of the regime. Ali Larijani spent decades warning against American influence, yet his daughter is a doctor in Ohio. Former IRGC chief Yahya Rahim-Safavi enforced strict ideological rules—while his daughter lives freely in Australia. The daughters of former president Mohammad Khatami and relatives of former president Hassan Rouhani all pursued long-term opportunities abroad.