Predictable reaction from Tehran after Bush's blacklisting of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps
Fox News, November 2, 2007
Alireza Jafarzadeh
Reaction from Tehran and
its Trans-Atlantic apologists to the Bush administration’s
October 25 blacklisting of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards
Corps (IRGC), the Qods Force and a dozen other IRGC
proliferation and terrorist affiliates was more than
predictable.
Shaken by the strategic political and economic ramifications
of these targeted designations — by far better understood in
Tehran than in many of Washington’s policy circles — the
clerical regime's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei appeared in
public to assuage the anxiety of their shrinking ideological
base on October 31. At the same time, there were the usual
bombastic and belligerent statements from Khamenei’s protégé
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and IRGC commanders. In thinly-veiled
threat to the demoralized insiders, Ahmadinejad said that
“millions of Iranians would be ready to sacrifice themselves
fighting the country's enemies.”
Ali Fadavi, deputy head of the IRGC’s naval forces, warned
that the IRGC forces were prepared to carry out suicide
operations in the Persian Gulf "if necessary … this spirit
is prevailing now within the Revolutionary Guards," he said.
Meanwhile, not surprisingly, Iran’s Democratic opposition,
the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and a host
of senior anti-fundamentalist and nationalist Iraqi
political figures, including former Prime Minister Iyad
Allawi and Iraqi National Accord front leader Dr. Adnan Al-Duleimi,
welcomed the decision to blacklist the IRGC and its
affiliated entities.
The prominent Iranian opposition leader, Maryam Rajavi,
described the move as “indispensable to thwart the export of
terrorism and fundamentalism to the Middle East region, in
particular the regime's meddling in Iraq and to prevent the
regime from obtaining nuclear weapons.” Mrs. Rajavi, elected
by the NCRI as president for the transitional period after
the mullahs are overthrown, stressed, “This is a clear
testament and a necessary prelude to democratic change in
Iran.”
The Iraqi dignitaries emphasized that the sanctions would
prove effective in limiting the Qods Force campaign in Iraq.
But would it? Absolutely! It is common knowledge that the
IRGC has expanded its role beyond simply being the main
military component of the ayatollahs’ regime into a
financial and political conglomerate. But how extensive is
the Guard’s financial network and how would economic demise
impact the totality of the regime? And a quick survey of
current reporting on the IRGC shows that indeed its role in
Iran’s economy has been grossly underestimated.
Over the years, the IRGC has created a web of financial
sources which do not fall under the supervision and
accountability of the government, in order to cloak the
IRGC's financial transactions and other activities at home
and abroad.
The IRGC's share of business increased dramatically after
Ahmadinejad's rise to presidency. Today, the IRGC has taken
control of some of the most lucrative sectors of the Iranian
economy, extending over more than 57 percent of the
country's imports and 30 percent of its non-oil exports.
This has enabled it to make a profit of around $5 billion
annually.
In July 2006, $2 billion from the government's reserves was
transferred to the IRGC's Khatam-ol Anbia Construction
Headquarters. The same year, this company earned $7 billion
more when signing three large contracts to work in oil and
gas fields.
The office of the Supreme Leader oversees the Guards'
economic activities. Its budget remains a secret and it does
not report to any other agency in the government. One
company, Hessan, is run by Khamenei’s office and controls
the IRGC's assets and accounts.
In reality, a major portion of $40 billion of annual trade
between the European Union and the Iranian regime ends up in
the coffers of the IRGC, its affiliates and front companies.
When EU is doing business with Iran, most probably it is
dealing with the IRGC.
The IRGC runs more than 500 small and large companies with
branches spanning four continents, especially in the Persian
Gulf states. In the UAE, there are 483 front companies run
by the IRGC involved in activities ranging from importing
household appliances, contracting projects in oil and gas
fields, smuggling oil out of Iraq, providing technical
requirements for nuclear and missile projects, road works,
building dams, ports and buildings.
Operating illegal shipping ports for certain contraband
imports and exports is among the major tasks of the IRGC.
According to information from inside the regime, the IRGC
has established 60 illegal ports in the southern Iranian
coasts. It is believed that many of these ports have
military applications.
According to the NCRI, some of the companies affiliated with
the IRGC are: Razmandegan, Razmjoo, National Building, IRGC
Cooperation Insurance and the IRGC Bassij Ghorb companies,
Kosaran Institute, Construction bases known as Ghorbs in the
IRGC's air force, navy, ground force and the joint staff,
IRGC's Cooperation Company, Ta'min Aghlam Institute, Javan
Seir Isar Travel Agency, Maskan Institute, Koosha Ghodrat,
Iranians Trade and Development and Negar Nasr companies,
Bahman Industrial Group, Shahriyar, Atlas and Atlas Maritime
companies.
Some of the key commanders of the IRGC engaged in its
business and commercial activities are:
1. IRGC Brig. Gen. Muhammad Khoda Bakhshi, Khatam-ol Anbia
Construction Headquarters coordinator
2. Mullah Hojjat Piri, deputy coordinator in Khatam-ol Anbia
Construction Headquarters
3. IRGC Brig. Gen. Abdurreza Abedzadeh, deputy commander of
Khatam-ol Anbia Construction Headquarters
4. Sardari (engineer), head of the Khatam-ol Anbia
Construction Headquarters engineering team
5. Mullah Ismaeel Sa'adat, Khamenei's representative in
Khatam-ol Anbia Construction Headquarters
It is abundantly clear that if the European Union follows
the U.S. lead and, in addition to supporting the new U.S.
sanctions, slaps its own targeted, punitive measures against
the IRGC, a lot would be achieved toward dismantling
Tehran’s nuclear effort and terror machine.
Contrary to some suggestions, these targeted sanctions, as a
part of a robust diplomatic offensive to defuse the
existential threats Tehran is posing, could prevent a
military conflict. More importantly, these sanctions signify
a clear departure from the disastrous policy of striking a
grand bargain with the ayatollahs. As long as the mullahs
are ruling Tehran, the more jaw has pushed Iran and the
whole region toward more war.
According to a Gallup poll released October 31, the American
people consider Tehran as being by far the greatest threat
to world stability. And, according to an internal secret
survey conducted by the Iranian regime, over 90 percent of
the Iranians favor regime change in Iran.
To avoid war, however, the United States and Europe should
push for an Iranian solution, i.e. relying on the Iranian
people and their democratic opposition movement. There is no
need to appropriate money, provide arms, or have boots on
the ground. It is time for the State Department to vacate
the terrorist designation of Iran's main opposition groups,
the MEK and the NCRI. A bipartisan majority of members of
Congress rejected the designation, which they said was meant
as a goodwill gesture to the Iranian regime. Now is the time
to act.
Alireza Jafarzadeh is a FOX News Channel Foreign Affairs
Analyst and the author of
"The Iran Threat: President Ahmadinejad and the Coming
Nuclear Crisis" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007).
Jafarzadeh has revealed Iran's terrorist network in Iraq and
its terror training camps since 2003. He first disclosed the
existence of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility and the
Arak heavy water facility in August 2002.
Prior to becoming a contributor for FOX, and until August
2003, Jafarzadeh acted for a dozen years as the chief
congressional liaison and media spokesman for the U.S.
representative office of Iran's parliament in exile, the
National Council of Resistance of Iran.
