NCRI reveals IRGC’s role in Iran’s economy, the Washington Times reports

NCRI – The Washington Times reported on Sunday that according to a report compiled by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), Iranian Regime’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the target last week of new U.S. financial sanctions, plays a far larger role in Iran’s economy than previous studies have suggested.

"IRGC business enterprises, ranging from construction and insurance to importing consumer goods and car parts, have flourished under hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, according to information supplied to The Washington Times by the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)", report added.

The NCRI "said in a study that the Revolutionary Guard Corps controls 30 percent of Iran’s non-oil exports and more than half the country’s imports, in addition to vast new contracts to develop Iran’s oil and gas fields", Washington Times added.
The report quoted NCRI foreign affairs committee chairman Mohammad Mohaddessin as saying "Today, various executive and economic instruments of [the Iranian government] are practically controlled by the IRGC."
The Washington Times reported that the NCRI’s "inside intelligence on Tehran’s nuclear and military activities has been verified repeatedly by U.S. and Western analysts."
"The new NCRI data suggest that U.S. and international financial sanctions may be aiming at a bigger target than previously thought. The report said the IRGC operates more than 500 companies, with branch offices throughout the Middle East as well as Europe, East Asia, Africa and Latin America", the Washinton Times added.
"The NCRI said the Guard Corps’ business operations make it the third largest enterprise in the country, behind only the national oil company and a religious foundation based in the city of Mashhad."