Tehran Bureau pursues its one-of-a-kind investigations into Iran’s bonyads and the Khamenei family. The articles here provide unparalleled detail about the clans that run the country’s political business empires.
Khamenei’s office puts up obstacles to transparency to protect its own interests
As Iran’s economy struggles, Khamenei’s office is founding new companies in tech, finance and pharma
An insider’s testimony about the genesis of bonyads and the dynamics of Iran’s pseudo-privatization.
Why this essential term must be redefined for an Iranian context.
A bill addressing the leading cause of corruption has languished in the Majles for over two years.
The lives, business interests, and influential connections of the late president’s five children.
The late president established a corrupt system that continues to benefit elite clans, including his own.
The late president’s youngest son and his wife, Maryam Salari, are at the heart of an extensive business network.
The two daughters of the late president have wide-ranging business interests, based in both inheritance and marriage.
The late president’s middle son, now serving a 10-year jail sentence, was mired in business scandals for decades.
Despite his links to crime and corruption, Mohsen Rafiqdoust controls prestigious private schools.
The custodians of Mashhad’s Imam Reza Shrine have turned the pilgrimage site into a political money machine.
One of the central figures in Iran’s kleptocracy now heads its government.
The former bonyad CEO’s network of “do-gooders” includes embezzlers and sex traffickers.
Eight scandals featuring the former bonyad exec’s business network.
The individuals and organizations behind one of Iran’s most secretive business networks.
Qasem Soleimani’s legacy lies not in his military prowess, but in the business empire he helped create.
The financial institutions behind one of Iran’s most secretive business networks.
An industrialist’s vast business network illuminates how Iran’s political right is beholden to clerical and military elites.
Conflicts of interest, nepotism, and preferential treatment pervade charity ownership among Iran’s ruling elite.
How a wealthy, unelected right-winger pulls the strings of his coalition.
Parliament speaker Mohammad Qalibaf is filling top posts with friends and confederates such as Ahadian, an in-law of the supreme leader’s.
The Iranian pharmaceutical industry receives over $10 billion in government subsidies annually. It’s also so corrupt and inept that patients sometimes pay with their lives.
The family of Mohsen Rezaei, IRGC chief for 16 years, has the power to veto parliamentary legislation, mastermind covert ops, and direct the content of Iran’s most popular news site.
IRGC linchpin Mohsen Rezaei’s foundation attracts Revolutionary Guard officers and right-wing clerics with interests from high politics to helicopter and pasta production.
An investigation into Tabnak, Iran’s most visited news website, shows how the state-funded outlet advances the private interests of its owner, longtime IRGC chief Mohsen Rezaei.
A look at the links between Mohsen Rezaei, longtime IRGC head and Expediency Council member, and Mohammad Qalibaf, former Tehran mayor and high-ranking Guard officer.
As mayor, Qalibaf awarded the IRGC’s Khatam al-Anbia conglomerate, which he once headed, an exclusive $6.06 billion urban development contract, bypassing lawful procedures.
The Dastgheib family is mired in controversy surrounding the destruction of cultural heritage sites and the bullying of a seminary whistleblower who raised the issue.
A prominent newspaper editor related to Ali Khamenei benefited from the forced takeover of reformist media by courts close to the Supreme Leader’s Office.
Scrutiny of the outspoken Tehran MP’s family ties and business holdings shows him to be in collusion with the very individuals he publicly criticizes.
The Revolutionary Guard mastermind is at the epicenter of several powerful networks whose members hold key positions in the pivotal Expediency Council.
A reformist MP’s illustrious political career is studded with prestigious appointments, awards of merit, and one-on-one meetings with regime elites like the late General Qasem Soleimani.
The path to sucess of recently elected legislator Seyyed Nezamoldin Mousavi reveals the central role that state-funded media organizations play in Iranian high politics.