Iran's Revolutionary Guard builds empire

Published: Aug. 26, 2007 at 9:45 AM

TEHRAN, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- Iran's Revolutionary Guard has built an economic empire that now oversees everything from dentistry to travel to huge building projects, it was reported.

The Guard, under the leadership of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has ties to more than 100 companies that control an estimated $12 billion in business and construction, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.

The 125,000-member Guard, created in 1979 to protect the ideals of Iran's Islamic Revolution, built its empire with the help of the military engineering capability it developed rebuilding the country after the 1980-1988 war with Iraq, the Times reported.

Fourteen of 21 members of the Iranian Cabinet are former Guard commanders and former officers hold 80 of the 290 seats in Parliament, the Times reported.

The Bush administration reportedly wants to designate the Guard a terrorist organization, which would let the United States block assets and disrupt operations by companies that associate with the Guard.

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