The “maximum pressure” campaign may not have compelled the Iranian leadership to abandon its terrorism and nuclear and ballistic missile work yet, but it has bitten into Iran’s economy. The Iranian economy is in recession, and the value of the Iranian rial continues to plummet. Sanctions on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have hit the Iranian economy especially hard given the role the Guard plays in the economy.

The Guard rose to prominence during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War. When revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei finally accepted a cease-fire, the Guard did not want simply to return to the barracks for fear that it would lose its privileged position. Instead, it decided to enter the civilian sector and built an independent financial base. Today, without moral equivalent, the Guard’s Khatam al Anbiya [Seal of the Prophets] Construction Base is akin to taking the Army Corp of Engineers and merging it with Bechtel, Halliburton, KBR, Exxon-Mobil, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Dell, and Walmart — one huge entity that dominates most industrial, electronics, and manufacturing sectors.