WASHINGTON: The US House of Representatives Financial Services Committee has endorsed a bill requiring the Department of Treasury to disclose the assets of Iran’s top political and military leaders.
The Iranian Leadership Asset Transparency Act, approved in a 43-16 vote, would force the Department of Treasury to disclose the wealth of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and 80 other senior officials and Revolutionary Guard commanders.
The legislation, which had been blocked by former US President Barack Obama, demands the US administration to expose how the Iranian leaders acquired their massive assets and how they are being spent.
The law orders the US Treasury to submit a thorough report disclosing the assets of Ali Khamenei, President Hassan Rouhani and the 12 jurists who are members of the Council of Guardians.
The list also cited members of the Assembly of Experts, the Minister of Intelligence, the Revolutionary Guard Intelligence chief and other senior leaders, as well as Al Quds Force commander Qassem Suleimani and others.
It also mandates that the list of assets be put online on the Treasury Department website in languages that can be understood by the Iranian public.
The law said that Iran’s top government leadership, including the Supreme Leader and the military and political leaders, have amassed substantial wealth through state-ingrained corruption and their tyrannical rule of their people.
Republican Representative Bruce Poliquin of Maine, who spearheaded the bill, reported an alarming rise in poverty in Iran due to rampant state corruption and the tyrannical ruling class which holds sway on the country’s wealth.
A study by him revealed that barely five per cent of Iranians control the sources of wealth – citing Khamenei, senior officials and their families – while the other 95pc live in poverty. The study estimated Ali Khamenei’s wealth at $95 billion.