IRGC willing to turn over projects to the private sector

Khamenei’s representative in the IRGC Hojat al-Islam Ali Saeedi  said: “the IRGC’s construction arm  Khatam al-Anbia and its many subsidiaries has and will continue to limit their projects, aiming to turn over its national projects to the private sector that has the capacity to handle them.” Since taking office, President Hassan Rouhani has asked IRGC to continue their large scale infrastructure projects while seeking a larger role for the private sector, especially for smaller economic projects. Saeedi said, “The IRGC’s main goal in becoming involved in economic projects is part of the IRGC’s natural responsibility, meaning defense of the Islamic Revolution…when two large companies, Shell and Total, pulled out of their major projects, an institution must carry this burden on its shoulders so that the movement of the revolution will not be harmed.” He added that the presence of the IRGC in the economic arena possesses several characteristics. First, that the projects being handled by the IRGC are national projects that the private sector does not have the capability and capacity to handle. Another is that the IRGC’s primary goal in its involvement in economic projects is not to generate profit but to advance the IRGC’s intrinsic goals of defending the Islamic Revolution.