Iranian Guards' business empire to win big if U.S. sanctions lifted

AI Summary

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards have built a vast commercial empire spanning oil, construction, shipping, telecommunications, and ports, thriving under sanctions. A potential deal to end conflict with the U.S. may empower this group that Western allies consider terrorist.

By Parisa Hafezi and Angus McDowall DUBAI, June 20 (Reuters) - Emerging outlines of a deal between Washington and Tehran to end their war contain a stinging paradox: sweeteners to coax Iran into compliance may strengthen an adversarial force that the U.S. and its Western allies consider a terrorist organisation. For years, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards thrived in the shadow of sanctions, building a sprawling commercial empire stretching from oil and construction to shipping, telecommunications and ports.