Children of Iran’s regime leaders are educating America’s students at colleges from New York to Los Angeles
Iranian officials frequently describe the United States as the “Great Satan,” and demonstrations in the country have included burning effigies of President Donald Trump. Despite the hostile rhetoric, a number of relatives of prominent Iranian political figures are studying or working at universities in the United States.
Several children and family members of senior figures connected to Iran’s government hold positions or attend programs at well-known American institutions such as the University of Massachusetts, Union College in New York, and George Washington University.
Some analysts say the presence of individuals tied to Iran’s ruling circles in influential academic roles could raise concerns. Janatan Sayeh, an Iran analyst at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington, D.C., said Iranian academics have sometimes helped shape political conversations in the United States. According to Sayeh, some critics believe these figures may influence public opinion by presenting the Iranian government as more moderate than it actually is, even while the state continues to pursue a hardline agenda. The Post reported it has found no specific evidence of wrongdoing by the individuals mentioned.
One example is Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani, the daughter of Iranian political figure Ali Larijani, who was killed in an airstrike Tuesday. Ardeshir-Larijani worked as a medical doctor and taught at Emory University in Atlanta. She had been affiliated with the university’s Winship Cancer Institute before the school ended its relationship with her in January following pressure from critics and dissident groups.
According to Iranian activists who monitor the government, Ardeshir-Larijani initially came to the United States for cancer treatment after being diagnosed with the disease herself. Lawdan Bazargan, a human rights activist with the Alliance Against Islamic Regime of Iran Apologists, criticized the situation, saying it highlights the contrast between the opportunities available to relatives of powerful figures and the limited access many ordinary Iranians have to healthcare and other resources.
Calls for her dismissal and possible deportation increased as tensions between the United States and Iran intensified. A petition on Change.org with more than 156,000 signatures urged the Trump administration to remove her from the country.
In New York, Leila Khatami, the daughter of former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami, has taught mathematics at Union College in Schenectady. Mohammad Khatami served as president from 1997 to 2005 and was often described as a reformist during his time in office. However, critics argue that his administration was still part of a system that carried out repression and human rights abuses.
After U.S. airstrikes on Iran began last month, Leila Khatami’s profile and photograph were removed from the mathematics department’s faculty webpage. Her family connections also include ties to the family of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who led Iran following the 1979 revolution until his death in 1989.
Some critics of the Iranian government have voiced anger that relatives of powerful officials live and work in Western countries while many Iranians face political and economic hardship at home. Another petition, reportedly signed by more than 84,000 people, called on the Department of Homeland Security to review Khatami’s immigration status. The Post reported it has no evidence that her status was obtained improperly.
In Iran, the term “Aghzadeh,” meaning “noble born,” is commonly used to describe children of influential political and religious figures. The label often carries a negative connotation among the public, reflecting resentment toward families seen as benefiting from privilege while ordinary citizens face strict political and social restrictions.
Experts estimate that between 4,000 and 5,000 relatives of Iranian officials and bureaucrats currently live in the United States. Additional family members have settled in countries such as Canada and Australia. Sayeh noted that tracking these individuals can be difficult because many are nieces, nephews, or extended relatives who do not share the same last names as the prominent figures they are connected to.
Among them is Zahra Mohaghegh Damad, daughter of the Shia cleric Ayatollah Mostafa Mohaghegh Damad, who has held several roles in Iran’s government. She is also a niece of Ali Larijani. Damad works as a professor in the Department of Nuclear, Plasma and Radiological Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and directs a research group focused on analyzing the risks of complex technological systems, including nuclear power plants.
Another academic with family ties to Iranian politics is Eissa Hashemi, an associate professor at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology in Los Angeles. His mother, Masoumeh Ebtekar, served as a member of Iran’s parliament and previously acted as spokesperson for the students who seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held 52 American diplomats hostage for 444 days.
During that crisis, American media gave Ebtekar the nickname “Screaming Mary” because of her forceful English-language statements defending the hostage-takers. She later rose to become the highest-ranking woman in Iran’s government, overseeing issues related to women and the environment until 2021. Ebtekar has publicly supported Iran’s laws requiring women to wear the hijab.
Zeinab Hajjarian, another academic in the United States, is the daughter of Saeed Hajjarian, who played a significant role in Iran’s intelligence and security structures following the 1979 revolution and served as an adviser to Ayatollah Khomeini in the 1980s. Zeinab Hajjarian works as an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
At George Washington University, Ehsan Nobakht is an associate professor in the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, where he specializes in kidney disease and hypertension. His father, Ali Nobakht, is a well-known physician in Iran and a former member of parliament who also served as a deputy minister in the country’s health department.
While some figures connected to the Iranian political system are labeled reformists and others hardliners, critics argue that both groups operate within the same governing structure and share responsibility for maintaining it.
Bazargan said political power in Iran is largely concentrated within a relatively small circle of interconnected families and officials. She added that many Iranians no longer view the distinction between reformists and hardliners as meaningful, describing it instead as an internal division within the same system. According to her, Western media and analysts sometimes continue to frame Iranian politics in those terms, which she believes can create the impression that major changes could come from within the existing political structure.
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