Despite public complaints from regime officials, the government continues to allocate vast sums to propaganda, clerical networks, and institutions loyal to the Supreme Leader.
The state-run outlet Khabar Online published a report on September 13 highlighting the budgets allocated to a series of religious, cultural, and propaganda institutions—many under the direct supervision of the regime’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei. The piece came after regime president Masoud Pezeshkian expressed dissatisfaction with the size of these allocations. However, the report underscored a fundamental contradiction: the same budget bill that Pezeshkian criticized was signed by him and submitted to parliament for approval.
This contradiction reflects a long-standing pattern within the regime: while officials publicly lament wasteful spending, they actively enable and institutionalize it. The 2025 budget, far from reflecting national priorities, once again channels enormous public resources into ideological networks, propaganda outlets, and military-linked organizations that serve to sustain authoritarian control rather than the public interest.
Massive Funds for Religious Networks
The 2025 budget reserves staggering sums for clerical bodies. The Supreme Council of Seminaries, responsible for overseeing Iran’s religious schools, is allocated approximately 9.05 trillion tomans. The Islamic Propagation Office in Qom alone receives 914 billion tomans, while the Islamic Propagation Organization and its 15 subsidiaries are granted over 6.25 trillion tomans, earmarked for projects such as promoting the doctrine of “Mahdism and expectation.”
Other clerical organizations receive similarly generous sums. The World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought, under the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, is allocated 191 billion tomans. The Al-Mustafa International University, tasked with recruiting and training foreign clerics, receives around 2 trillion tomans. The Ahl al-Bayt World Assembly, with branches in more than 140 countries, gains 290 billion tomans, ostensibly for activities such as “empowering Shiite followers” in Africa.
Even the Khomeini Educational and Research Institute, known as the “Mesbah Institute,” receives 454 billion tomans. Collectively, these allocations represent an entrenched system of patronage for clerical and ideological structures, draining national resources at a time of severe domestic economic crisis.
Propaganda and Cultural Control
The budget also highlights the regime’s obsession with controlling culture and public opinion. The Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, a policymaking body shaping Iran regime’s ideological and cultural landscape, is granted more than 1 trillion tomans.
At the same time, the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) benefits from the allocation of 5.34 trillion tomans to the “Qarargah Ghorb Baqiyatollah,” a base responsible for cultural and social operations. Among its affiliates are the Owj Arts and Media Organization, known for producing large-scale propaganda murals in Tehran, and the Seraj Institute.
Meanwhile, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), the largest propaganda machine in the country and operating directly under Khamenei’s supervision, receives an astronomical 30 trillion tomans—a figure dwarfing the budgets of most other institutions combined.
Expanding Patronage Networks
The regime’s patronage system extends beyond clerical and military-linked organizations. The Office of the President itself is allocated 8.56 trillion tomans, while foundations tied to the family of Ruhollah Khomeini, including institutions run by his grandson Hassan Khomeini, are granted 560 billion tomans.
This network of allocations demonstrates how the regime continues to funnel public wealth into structures designed to reinforce its power base, regardless of the cost to ordinary citizens.
Mismanagement Institutionalized
The Khabar Online report illustrates a paradox: regime officials may label these institutions as unnecessary or even “pointless,” but in practice, they enshrine their budgets into law. Far from reform or accountability, this cycle reflects a political system in which mismanagement and favoritism are not anomalies but deliberate features.
At a time when millions of Iranians struggle with inflation, poverty, and collapsing public services, the regime diverts enormous resources to religious indoctrination, propaganda, and patronage networks. These budget priorities reveal a state apparatus designed not to serve the people, but to preserve the ideological and political dominance of those in power.
