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NCRI Staff<\/p>\n
NCRI –\u00a0A senior member of Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has claimed that he knows nothing about a decree from regime\u2019s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei that calls on the country\u2019s so-called security forces to move their investment holdings and commercial assets to the private sector.<\/p>\n
Mohammad-Saleh Jokar, the deputy head of IRGC in parliamentary and legal affairs, said: \u201cI was unable to find such a declaration and have not seen it. I do not know where this report \u2013 which you say the defence minister has announced \u2013 has come from.<\/p>\n
On January 20, Iran\u2019s defence minister Hatami said that Khamenei had ordered the IRGC to rein in its growing business empire and ditch commercial assets that are not relevant to its mission.<\/p>\n
However, two senior IRGC officials (including Jokar) have denied any knowledge of this edict.<\/p>\n
Jokar said: \u201cThe issue is that this report says that Sepah [IRGC] and Artesh [regular army] have economic activities, which is questionable!\u201d<\/p>\n
Jokar, a former commander in the Student Basij (a militant arm of the IRGC), argued that \u201call of Sepah\u2019s (IRGC) activities are construction work that is carried out through the Khatam al-Anbia Construction Base\u201d and claimed that these projects are not designed to generate profit for the IRGC.<\/p>\n
In contradiction, Esmail Kowsari, the deputy commander of IRGC\u2019s Sarallah Unit, which is responsible for Tehran\u2019s security, argued that all of the IRGC economic activities are \u201crelevant\u201d to their mission and therefore legal.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThe construction activity of Sepah [IRGC] is based on Ayatollah Khamenei\u2019s permission.\u201d<\/p>\n
Khamenei has not commented on the issue.<\/p>\n
So one IRGC member is saying that there is no economic activity, one is saying that there is but its legal, and the defence minister is saying there is and it has to stop; who\u2019s telling the truth?<\/p>\n
Well, there is significant debate over the IRGC\u2019s economic role in Iran and there is significant evidence that the IRGC controls a staggering amount of the Iranian economy, as well as significant economic activities in other countries.
The areas that they have control over include but are not limited to energy, construction, telecommunication, media, mining, electronics, automobile, and banking.<\/p>\n
In 2017, IRGC\u2019s Chief Commander Mohammad Ali Jafari confirmed that the IRGC were now also involved in Iran\u2019s agricultural industry.<\/p>\n
The IRGC has in the past argued that their economic activities are aimed at helping the poor, but in reality, the IRGC spends most of its revenue on war and conflict both inside and outside Iran.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NCRI Staff NCRI – A senior member of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has claimed that he knows nothing about a decree from regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei that calls […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":50582,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[178],"class_list":{"0":"post-24238","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-save"},"yoast_head":"\n