Dozens of companies tied to the Iranian regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) will win sanctions relief under a nuclear deal agreed with world powers, Reuters reported on Sunday.
The IRGC will act for Western firms in many ways as a gatekeeper to some of the most lucrative areas of Iran’s economy.
The process is complex and will unfold in stages, with some firms obliged to wait eight years for sanctions relief and others who can expect no concession even then from Washington, a reflection of concerns over activities beyond Iran’s borders.
Among the latter is the IRGC’s construction arm Khatam al Anbia, controlling at least 812 affiliated companies worth billions of dollars and deemed by Washington “proliferators of weapons of mass destruction,” according to Reuters.
The European Union will delist the company for sanctions in eight years, while the United States will maintain its measures against the firm. Foreign businessmen must gauge at that time to what extent they can trade with such partners without themselves inviting U.S. measures.
In all, about 90 current and former IRGC officials, entities such as the IRGC itself, and firms that conducted transactions for the Guards will be taken off nuclear sanctions lists by either the United States, EU or United Nations, according to a Reuters tally based on annexes to the text of the nuclear deal.
A handful will see EU sanctions removed once the nuclear deal is enacted on “Implementation Day” expected within the next year. Others such as Bank Saderat Iran (BSI), accused by Washington of transferring money to groups it deems “terrorist”, such as Hezbollah and Hamas, will have EU sanctions lifted in eight years; but U.S. measures will remain in place.
Most IRGC entities such as the terrorist Quds force, which carries out overseas operations, and Guards’ airforce and missile command will not be de-listed by the EU until the second phase in some eight years. But all will remain then under U.S. sanction for “terrorism support activities” or as “proliferators of weapons of mass destruction.”
The benefits that will accrue to the IRGC, its recent annual turnover from all business activities estimated at around $10-12 billion by one Western diplomat, have been the focus of much of the outrage in U.S. Congress over the deal.
Western critics say the deal does not in any case go far enough to ensure the regime in Iran will never be able to develop a nuclear weapon. Republicans in Congress, and some Democrats, are pursuing a motion to scrap the deal.
Dozens of smaller companies linked to the IRGC, some of which are directly involved in the purchase or manufacture of military materiel, are also scheduled for sanctions relief.
Among those is the Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Company, which builds military aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles, and Marine Industries, responsible for marine military acquisitions for both the IRGC and Iran’s navy, according to the U.S. Treasury. The EU will lift sanctions in about eight years while the United States will retain them.
Under sanctions, the IRGC were still able to thrive by controlling the smuggling of banned goods across the Gulf and from neighboring countries, experts say.
Foreign firms will have to act with caution in opening ties with Iranian companies even as EU sanctions unravel. EU and U.S. policies diverge at points, leaving some room for uncertainty.
In testimony to Congress in July and August, senior U.S. Treasury officials said their department would continue to enforce sanctions targeting the IRGC.
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