The hidden treasury of Khamenei: How many billions is the Supreme Leader’s Empire Worth?

For more than thirty years, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has cultivated a public image of religious maturity, in line with the revolutionary rhetoric of the Islamic Republic. This reality has not prevented the Supreme Leader from amassing what is estimated to be a vast private and family fortune ranging from $100 to $200 billion. Several international press investigations have described the existence of a wide and opaque economic system revolving around him and the religious foundations under his influence.

At the heart of this apparatus is the conglomerate known as the Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order (EIKO), or Setad, established in the late 1980s to manage properties confiscated after the 1979 revolution. According to an extensive Reuters investigation, this structure controls assets worth approximately $95 billion, with holdings spanning much of Iran’s economy, from finance and pharmaceuticals to telecommunications and real estate.

According to various estimates over the years, funds linked to Khamenei are believed to be deposited in bank accounts in Venezuela, the United Arab Emirates, Syria, France, the United Kingdom, and several African countries. Most of this wealth is thought to have been accumulated through state-controlled entities. By comparison, the leader’s family fortune is believed to be more than double Iran’s total oil exports in 2025.

In fact, it is an economic network capable of strengthening and sustaining the Ayatollah’s political power without going through normal institutional channels. According to different sources, the combination of these economic activities over time has created a financial structure whose resources rival those held by Iran’s last Shah before the 1979 revolution.

Economic Empire Under the Supreme Leader

When Setad was founded in 1989, it had a seemingly limited mission: to manage assets confiscated from members of the Shah’s regime or citizens believed to have fled the country during the turbulent revolutionary years. Initially, it was intended to be a temporary structure aimed at redistributing these properties for social purposes.

However, over the decades, the organization has transformed into one of Iran’s most powerful economic holdings.

The Reuters investigation, published after six months of research and analysis of hundreds of corporate and real estate documents, describes Setad as a conglomerate with holdings across the main sectors of the national economy. Through a network of branches and investment funds, the organization has built a portfolio of businesses. Its estimated value makes Setad one of the most influential economic centers in the country.

What distinguishes this structure from other Iranian conglomerates is that it reports directly to the Supreme Leader’s office. This position gives it almost complete autonomy from the government and parliament, effectively making it an economic power parallel to the official institutions of the Islamic Republic.

According to various reports cited by the Daily Telegraph, part of the conglomerate’s profits is used to finance the administrative apparatus and the complex known as Beit Rahbari, the “House of Guidance,” where hundreds of officials and collaborators work.

Confiscation System and Property Accumulation

A significant portion of the assets managed by Setad comes from the confiscation mechanism, one of the most controversial aspects of the entire system. According to reports, the organization acquired thousands of properties over the years through revolutionary court rulings, which declared certain assets “abandoned” or belonging to individuals accused of hostility toward the Islamic Republic.

Cases cited in investigations include properties belonging to members of the Bahá’í minority, entrepreneurs who emigrated abroad, or families accused of leaving their properties unused. Once confiscated, these assets were transferred to Setad, which could sell, lease, or integrate them into its real estate portfolio.

Over time, the system allowed the creation of a large portfolio of real estate spread across several Iranian cities. Critics and human rights organizations argue that many of these confiscations occurred through controversial or opaque legal procedures. However, Iranian authorities reject these accusations and have always claimed that the organization’s activities primarily served to fund social projects and economic initiatives in the country’s poorest regions.

During the past decade, especially following the 2022 protests, some reports have suggested that family-related investments have increasingly been moved abroad. The funds are said to have been transferred through intermediaries and shell companies established by regime supporters living abroad, with Liechtenstein and Switzerland serving as destinations for some of the capital.

Residence and Beit Rahbari Complex

In addition to the financial assets managed indirectly through Setad, Khamenei’s figure has always been associated with a residential and administrative complex in the heart of Tehran. After his appointment in 1989, Khamenei moved into a house in the city center on Palestine Street, around which an institutional complex has grown over time, known as Beit Rahbari, or the “House of Leadership.”

According to various reports, the complex includes approximately fifty buildings, including offices, residences, and security facilities, and employs hundreds of officials and collaborators linked to the political and military apparatus of the Islamic Republic.

The complex also houses the official headquarters of the Supreme Leader, from which many of the country’s key power centers are coordinated. This structure, known as the House of Leadership, has served for decades as the administrative and political center of Khamenei’s religious and state authority.

In recent hours, satellite images published by international media have shown significant damage to the complex during the airstrike in Tehran, highlighting the extent of the area housing the residence, offices, and operational facilities of the Supreme Leader.

“KORÇA BOOM”