TEHRAN – Iran’s supreme leader has ordered the Revolutionary Guard toloosen its hold on the economy, the country’s defense minister says,raising the possibility that the paramilitary organization might privatizesome of its vast holdings.
The comments this weekend by Defense Minister Gen. Amir Hatami appear to bea trial balloon to test the reaction of the idea, long pushed by Iran’sPresident Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate. Protests over the country’spoor economy last month escalated into demonstrations directly challengingthe government.
But whether the Guard would agree remains unclear, as the organization isestimated to hold around a third of the country’s entire economy.
“Our success depends on market conditions,” the newspaper quoted Hatami assaying.
The Guard formed out of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution as a force meant toprotect its political system, which is overseen by Shiite clerics. Itoperated parallel to the country’s regular armed forces, growing inprominence and power during the country’s long and ruinous war with Iraq inthe 1980s. It runs Iran’s ballistic missile program, as well its ownintelligence operations and expeditionary force.
In the aftermath of the 1980s war, authorities allowed the Guard to expandinto private enterprise.
Today, it runs a massive construction company called Khatam al-Anbia, with135,000 employees handling civil development, the oil industry and defenseissues. Guard firms build roads, man ports, run telecommunication networksand even conduct laser eye surgery.
The exact scope of all its business holdings remains unclear, thoughanalysts say they are sizeable. The Washington-based Foundation for Defenseof Democracies, which long has been critical of Iran and the nuclear dealit struck with world powers, suggests the Guard controls “between 20% and40% of the economy” of Iran through significant influence in at least 229companies.
In his comments, Hatami specifically mentioned Khatam al-Anbia, but didn’tsay whether that too would be considered by the supreme leader as necessaryto privatize. The Guard and its supporters have criticized other businessdeals attempting to cut into their piece of the economy since the nucleardeal. – Agencies