Iran Democracy Monitor: No. 121

THE LOGIC BEHIND THE IRGC'S EXPANDING EMPIRE
The economic power of Iran's Revolutionary Guards continues to grow. According to one well-placed Iranian source, the IRGC has in effect supplanted big foreign companies in the country's economy, involving itself in projects which the domestic private sector can not afford financially. Moreover, the IRGC's expansion of economic power is being aided and abbetted by the Iranian government, for ideological purposes. Keeping investments in the hands of an entity whose values are in line with those of the Islamic Republic, the thinking goes, is preferable to relinquishing sovereignty to foreign trading partners. (Tehran Fars, June 26, 2012)

IRAN STRUGGLES WITH ADDICTION
According to Iran's Minister of Health, Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi, approximately 10 million people now cope with drug addiction in Iran. Speaking on the occasion of the International Day Against Drug abuse, Dastjerdi noted that over the past few months, the quantity of both drugs and alcohol seized by authorities from Iranian citizens has topped 400 tons. In particular, alcohol (a formally-banned substance) has become increasingly popular among Iranians, and confiscation of alcoholic beverages by regime authorities has increased by 69 percent over the past year. (Tehran Fars, July 2, 2012)

[Editors' Note: Iran has long ranked as one of the world's most addicted countries. Still, the statistics outlined by Dastjerdi - if accurate - represent a notable increase of drug abuse within the Islamic Republic. Based upon the figures cited above, some 12.5 percent of Iran's nearly 79 million person population is now addicted to narcotics in some form.]

IRAN BOLSTERS NAVAL CAPABILITIES...
The Islamic Republic is strengthening its ability to project power into the Strait of Hormuz. According to Ali Faravi, the commander of the IRGC Navy, Iran will soon equip its ships in the Strait with new, longer-range missiles - expanding the threat that they can pose to U.S. and allied forces in the Persian Gulf. "[W]e have already equipped our vessels with missiles with a range of 220 km (136 miles) and we hope to introduce missiles with a range of over 300 km (186 miles) soon," Fadavi has announced publicly. (Reuters, June 29, 2012)

...AS REGIONAL NEIGHBORS SCRAMBLE TO ADAPT
Iran's Gulf neighbors, leery of the ISlamic Republic's expanding strategic capabilities, are seeking to preserve the security of regional energy commerce. As part of contingency planning for a potential Iranian blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, Saudi Arabia has reportedly repurposed an old oil pipline built by Iraq to bypass Gulf shipping lanes. The Iraqi Pipeline in Saudi Arabia was built in the 1980s, after oil tankers were attacked in the Gulf during the Iran-Iraq war. However, the pipeline has not carried Iraqi crude oil since 1990. In 2001, Saudi Arabia confiscated the pipeline as compensation for debts owed by Baghdad and since then has used it to transport gas to power plants. (Tehran Fars, June 29, 2012)

IRAN'S LATEST PLOY TO SKIRT SANCTIONS
Europe's long-awaited ban on oil imports from Iran, which kicked in on July 1st, is just days old, but the Iranian government already appears to have found a way to circumvent them. The Iranian government reportedly has placed the flag of Tuvalu - an island state in the Pacific - on 15 of the 39 Iranian oil tankers. The "reflagging" effectively transfers nationality of the vessel to Tuvalu, allowing the Islamic Republic to operate it without the restrictions now imposed on Iranian vessels. (BBC, June 29, 2012)

[Editors' Note: This is not the first time that Iran has employed such a tactic to avoid sanctions. Two years ago, when sanctions were imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), the company merely re-registered its fleet under English names and with flags from Malta, Cyprus and Hong Kong.]