The Iranian terrorist IRGC dominates the country’s economy and funds its proxies at the expense of the people, maintaining the status quo by suppressing protests.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) wields an outsized influence in Iran, claiming the lion’s share of the country’s budget and proceeds from the illicit sale of oil, which has continued even under sanctions, experts said.
It dominates major sectors of the Iranian economy, with controlling interests in the oil, telecommunications, transportation, ports and shipping, customs, export and import industries as well as in industrial and agricultural sectors.
Oil revenue also is used to purchase military equipment and fund IRGC proxies such as Lebanese Hizbullah, allied Iraqi militias and the Houthis in Yemen.
This has fueled resentment inside Iran, which is facing an acute economic crisis as the Iranian terrorist IRGC fills its own coffers and bankrolls its regional affiliates, and has sparked popular protests, which the IRGC has helped to suppress.
Experts warn there is no way to break this cycle and achieve economic reforms in Iran without the participation of the IRGC. Yet the IRGC is profiting from the situation and has no incentive to change its ways, and so the cycle continues.
In a recent report, UK-based Chatham House said that although Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi’s government came to power with the slogan of “fighting corruption”, its efforts “will by no means root out entrenched corruption“.
In the absence of significant economic reforms, the report added, the Iranian government will likely witness more protests and unrest.
The IRGC’s “statelet” has reached well into Iran’s economy, Koteich said, and has amassed “a vast financial empire” in alliance with leader Ali Khamenei.
The IRGC controls multiple sectors of the economy, he said, and would need to be involved in any efforts to effect economic reform. Yet its affiliates only care about making high profits in the shortest possible amount of time, he added.
Source » iranbriefing