A Move by the White House Makes Zhongnanhai Tremble with Fear

Stacks of RMB and U.S. dollars. (Getty Images)

[People News] Recently, according to a report by Air Cargo Week, since large-scale protests erupted in Iran in late December last year, Russian military transport aircraft have begun making regular flights to Tehran, at times as many as five round trips in a single day. One view holds that this may indicate Iran’s top leadership, in response to a possible regime collapse, is transferring assets to Russia.

Exactly how much wealth do Iran’s top leaders—who disregard the lives of the people—possess? Mainland media have previously cited remarks made by former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a 2012 speech, in which he said: “The 300 wealthiest clerical families in Iran control 60% of Iran’s wealth.” Among these top tycoons, the family of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei naturally stands out. It is regarded as one of the four major families in the Middle East. It is said to control a commercial empire with assets exceeding 300 billion U.S. dollars—a figure that even surpasses Iran’s annual oil export revenues.

As early as November 2013, a Reuters investigative report pointed out that the commercial empire controlled by Khamenei, called Setad, is one of the key elements enabling Khamenei to hold power for so long. At present, it has stakes in almost every sector in Iran, including finance, oil, telecommunications, contraceptive manufacturing companies, and even ostrich farms.

In addition, the organization has systematically confiscated tens of thousands of properties belonging to ordinary civilians—such as those of religious minorities, Shiite Muslims, merchants, and Iranians living abroad—and then auctioned or sold them for profit.

Like China’s “red second generation,” a small group of Iranian elites represented by Khamenei control the vast majority of Iran’s resources and wealth, resulting in a stark wealth gap and leaving the people destitute. This is also the reason for the Iranian people’s long-term resistance. Today, as Iranian citizens continue large-scale protests, with firm support from U.S. President Trump, they are welcoming the arrival of dawn. Naturally, this has made Iran’s elites extremely fearful. Before fleeing, they must, of course, transfer large amounts of assets.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also confirmed this in a recent interview with U.S. Newsmax. He said that Iranian officials are transferring money out of Iran through various channels, preparing to abandon ship. Bessent’s exact words were: “Tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars are being transferred out of Iran. They are preparing to flee. These funds are flowing into banks and financial institutions all over the world.”

However, will their wishful thinking succeed? Bessent believes: “The Treasury Department’s job is to track these funds, whether through the traditional banking system or through digital assets.” In other words, even though Iran remains under U.S. sanctions, no matter where the money flows, it will be found by the United States. Once found, it will most likely be frozen and then returned to the Iranian people.

Freezing dictators’ assets is not without precedent. Back when Libya’s dictator Muammar Gaddafi was sanctioned, the United States and the United Kingdom froze 37 billion U.S. dollars and 12 billion pounds respectively; Italy and the Netherlands froze 9 billion euros; Canada, Austria, Sweden, and others froze 6 billion U.S. dollars; France froze 1 billion U.S. dollars; and Switzerland froze 900 million U.S. dollars. In addition, around July 2018, the United States expelled more than 5,000 children of Iranian officials and froze nearly 150 billion U.S. dollars in their bank deposits in the United States.

On October 18, 2023, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control also announced sanctions against 10 key Hamas members, operatives, and financial institutions in Gaza as well as Sudan, Turkey, Algeria, Qatar, and other locations. Public information shows that Hamas leaders’ overseas assets total more than 11 billion U.S. dollars. Among them, Sinwar has 2.2 billion U.S. dollars, Haniyeh 3 billion U.S. dollars, and the founder of the Qassam Brigades and his wife 1 billion U.S. dollars. Most of their assets are held in countries such as Qatar, the United States, and Switzerland.

Upon hearing statements like those made by Bessent, besides Iranian officials trembling in fear one by one, might Chinese Communist Party officials also feel a chill of shared anxiety?

Last December, Article 6704 of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act passed by the U.S. House of Representatives mentioned a “report on the wealth of the Chinese Communist Party leadership.” It stated that within one year of the act’s enactment, the Director of National Intelligence, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense, should publish on the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s public website a report on the wealth of the CCP leadership, and submit it to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the Committee on Foreign Relations, as well as the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

The scope of those to be investigated includes the General Secretary of the CCP, members of the CCP Politburo Standing Committee, and all members of the CCP Politburo.

In a report released last March titled The Wealth and Corrupt Activities of the CCP Leadership, it was mentioned that the commercial investments and real estate held by Xi Jinping’s siblings, nieces, and nephews were worth more than 1 billion U.S. dollars. After Xi took office, he may have required his family members to sell off some assets, but as of 2024, the Xi family still held millions of dollars in commercial interests and financial investments.

Clearly, this is only the tip of the iceberg. From the assets of corrupt officials exposed by the CCP itself—ranging from tens of millions, hundreds of millions, to billions and even tens of billions—the United States knows full well where this wealth was plundered from.

In August 2019, Professor Jia Kang, a former member of the 11th and 12th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, former director of the Fiscal Science Research Institute of the Ministry of Finance, and chief economist of the China New Supply-Side Economics Research Institute, once reposted a shocking piece of news: Swiss banks had announced that deposits held by 100 Chinese individuals totaled 7.8 trillion yuan (RMB).

This corroborated the secret revealed in the 2013 WikiLeaks “China cables”: senior CCP officials had about 5,000 accounts in Swiss banks, two-thirds of which belonged to officials of the CCP Central Committee. There were still 150 names not yet confirmed, believed to be family members. Officials at the ministerial level and above, and most Central Committee members, almost all had a share.

An article published several years ago under the byline Lao Man, titled China’s Family Fortune Has Long Been Emptied!, pointed out through analysis that China’s top elites had already transferred at least 1.6 trillion U.S. dollars in wealth abroad through fake investments.

In recent years, the author has also heard that many elites have transferred assets to the West through various means, because they see the CCP regime as precarious. For example, before retirement, a certain provincial Department of Justice director staged a fake divorce with his wife; the wife took the money and children and emigrated to Europe, and after the director retired, he also emigrated overseas.

So, if protests similar to those by the people of Venezuela or Iran were to occur in China, would the CCP leadership continue to transfer their remaining assets abroad? Do they really think that once the money is transferred out, they can truly own it? If the United States and other Western governments want to investigate, it is actually not difficult. And who can guarantee that these enormous gains plundered from the people will not one day return to the hands of the people?
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