At an anti-corruption conference, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani railed against corruption and according to many observers, took an indirect shot at the dominance of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in military, economic and media matters.

During the Dec. 8 speech Rouhani said, “We have to eliminate the consolidation of power. With the consolidation of power in one institution corruption is created, regardless of what you do. If the guns, the money, the newspapers, the websites is gathered in one place, certainly there will be corruption.”

According to the president’s website, Rouhani recounted how in the first decade after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, when he served in parliament, they fought to bring Iran's intelligence agency under the administration and turn it into a ministry, placing the parliament in a supervisory role. He added that they pushed for the Intelligence Ministry not to be an armed one.

The intelligence agency was placed under the authority of the administration, according to Rouhani, who said, “Otherwise, if you gather the intelligence, the guns, the money, the capital, the websites, the newspapers, the news agencies under one institution, there would be corruption.”