Trump’s tougher stance could backfire by boosting Iran’s Guards

Tuesday, 24 October 2017 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Ankara/London (Reuters): Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a military force with political clout and an industrial empire, stands to benefit from heightened tension between Washington and Tehran, officials and analysts said.

President Donald Trump broke ranks with other major powers earlier this month by disavowing Iran’s compliance with a 2015 multinational nuclear deal, complicating life for foreign investors nervous of possible new U.S. sanctions.

The IRGC, which reports directly to Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, began rapidly expanding its commercial interests a decade ago, before U.S. and EU sanctions were imposed on Iran’s oil and finance sectors in 2012 over the country’s nuclear program. It controls businesses ranging from ports management to telecommunications and has made the most of both cooling and warming ties with the West.

When Western oil companies vacated energy projects in Iran after 2012, the Guards took them on; after the penalties were lifted in 2016, the IRGC, through front companies, served as a conduit for foreign business flowing into Iran.

If investors are put off again, the IRGC is ready to step in, said an official from Khamenei’s camp.

“We want foreign investors to stay, but if they leave because of (U.S.) pressure, the Guards can easily replace them. There is no better alternative,” the official said, declining to be named because he was not authorised to speak to media.