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IRGC construction projects continue while private sector lags

Despite hopes that the private sector would prosper under a new administration, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' construction firm Khatam al-Anbia has continued to receive large government projects.
EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on leaving the office to report, film or take pictures in Iran.

A view of the gas field development section of South Pars Special Economic Energy Zone in Asalouyeh, Seaport, 900 km (560 miles) southwest of Tehran July 19, 2010. REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi (IRAN - Tags: POLITICS ENERGY BUSINESS) - RTR2GJLU

When the Iran-Iraq war ended in 1988, much of Iran’s infrastructure was either ruined or neglected. Reconstruction started immediately, but neither the private nor the public sector were capable of compensating for all the destruction that occurred during the war. This is where Khatam al-Anbiya (Seal of the Prophets) came in.

Today, 26 years after the end of the Iran-Iraq war, no one can doubt that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is one of the most important macroeconomic forces in the country. Khatam al-Anbiya, the main economic arm of the IRGC, was officially founded after the war on the orders of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

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