Toward military rule?
Politically, the Iran's Revolutionary Guard has become more powerful since the recent disputed elections. Now, it seems to be taking a bigger position in the economy. That makes it another force (along with the bazaar merchants and the black marketeers) favoring continued political and economic isolation.
Elite Guard in Iran Tightens Its Grip With Telecom Move[T]he Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has moved aggressively to tighten its grip on society, most recently with its takeover of a majority share in the nation’s telecommunications monopoly.
The nearly $8 billion acquisition by a company affiliated with the elite force has amplified concerns in Iran over what some call the rise of a pseudogovernment...
“It’s not just a matter of the Guards dominating the economy, but of controlling the state,” said Alireza Nader, an expert on Iran and co-author of a comprehensive RAND Corporation report on the Revolutionary Guards...
Increasingly, it is the interests of the Guards and its allies that are driving the nation’s policies, and those interests have often been defined by isolation from the West...
Since the [post-election] protests, senior Guards officials and former officials have been moved into many important government positions. There is now talk that the Guards’ leadership is considering transforming the Basij militia, a volunteer force under its command, into a professional, full-time force...
Until this case, the most striking instance of the Guards’ muscling into a business involved management of the Imam Khomeini Airport. In May 2004 the Guards shut down the airport and evicted the Turkish company that had the contract to run it. The Guards then put its own firm in place. The Guards also appears to have defied an edict by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to privatize its many holdings, which run from laser eye clinics and car dealerships to control of oil and gas fields, according to the RAND report...
Some analysts argue that the Guards, with a firm control of major sectors of the economy, has little interest in opening relations with the West, because integration with the global economy could bring in competition and require a degree of transparency the force is not comfortable with...
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Labels: economics, Iran, military, regime
posted by Ken Wedding @ 6:00 AM
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Iran restructuring its naval forces
"Iran has reorganized its naval forces to give operational control of the strategic Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz to the naval component of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the paramilitary organization that is playing an increasingly central role not only in Iran's military but also its political and economic life.
"Politically favored over Iran's traditional navy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, or IRGCN as it is known, "has capitalized on this status to acquire advanced weaponry and better platforms to develop additional capabilities," according to the study by the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence...
"The IRGCN, the study reports, 'has grown to be a non-traditional force, focused on preparing to survive any threat while incorporating asymmetric and novel defenses.' New bases have been created 'to present a line of defense that would prevent an enemy from accessing the Strait of Hormuz and thus the Persian Gulf.'
"The IRGCN has concentrated on acquiring and developing small, fast boats, some lightly armed and others armed with missiles and torpedoes. Using a mobile, anti-ship cruise missile... Iran can target any point within the Strait of Hormuz and much of the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman..."
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