One of the chief sticking points in the stalled nuclear negotiations with Iran has been the Iranian regime’s demand that the United States lift sanctions on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The logic of these sanctions and, indeed, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s “maximum pressure” campaign, rests on the role of the IRGC in Iran’s economy.

After the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, the IRGC did not want to forfeit the wartime privileges it accrued and return to the barracks. It took its engineering corps and began actively competing in the civilian economy, utilizing its military squads to intimidate competition. It was like 1930s Chicago (or perhaps 2020s Chicago). Today, the IRGC controls perhaps 40% of the economy and monopolized entire industries. Oil? IRGC. Electronics? IRGC. Automotive? IRGC. Construction? IRGC.