Of course, if that were to be the case than Khamenei wouldn’t have any assets in the US to be frozen and the sanctions would be meaningless, so why waste the time fighting them?

The truth is that Khamenei is one of the most corrupt people in the world, with a tax-free hedge fund worth billions, according to the US State Department, and he seizes property from religious minorities, political dissidents, and Iranians living abroad to funnel to the Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

There have been several reports published on his personal wealth over the years. Last year, Reuters put his wealth at $95 billion, while the US embassy in Baghdad has given his assets a total of $200 billion. Most of this wealth is under the control of his Setad organization, which holds large amounts of real estate and 37 companies spanning almost every sector of Iranian industry from oil to contraceptives to ostrich farming.

Another of Khamenei’s organizations is the Islamic Development Organization, founded as the “Institution of Islamic Development Council” in 1981, which is designed to promote the ideology of the Islamic Republic. The Islamic Development Organization controls 11 institutions and had a budget of around $100 million in 2018, which is more than any other religious organization. The institutions it controls include the Prayer Headquarters, the Friday Imams Policymaking Council and the Arts Department. Let’s look at some of them in more detail.

Prayer Headquarters

This organisation has a budget of roughly $5.5 million and is supposed to promote the culture of prayer, identify the capacities of the community in relation to prayer, and oversee systems that carry out prayers.

The Arts Department

This organisation is tasked with publishing content on the Regime’s ideology, creating “suitable” movies, which are largely ignored by the public, and banning “unsuitable” movies.

It has a budget of around $17 million, which is the most of any institution under the Islamic Development Organization.