July 22, 2004 - The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps have taken over as Iran’s main ruling power, doing away with any pretenses about the authority of the lame duck Khatami government, writes Italian daily La Repubblica in a dispatch from Tehran. Citing the IRGC's takeover last May of the new Tehran international airport, it says the IRGC would not tolerate to give up the control of the country’s airports, out of financial concerns. The IRGC draws considerable income from running the airports by illegally importing a variety of goods, as well as arms and possibly nuclear components for Iran’s secret atomic program which it manages, La Repubblica, writes, quoting unnamed reformist politicians in Tehran. “If you want to import goods from Dubai, the easiest way is to deliver them to the IRGC in UAE. You’ll have the goods cleared through customs in Tehran within three days,” the source told La Repubblica. IRGC’s retired officers and their associates make up a majority of the new Majles MPs, it adds. One factor of the emerging domestic power of the IRGC is Iraq, where IRGC agents wield a great influence by propping up the insurgent Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr and financing his militia al-Mahdi.
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