Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 06/2014

President Rouhani and the IRGC

Mehdi Khalaji

January 2014

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy

Abstract

President Hassan Rouhani's relationship with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is a central dynamic in the country's politics and economy. As always, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ultimately determines the roles of the president and the IRGC, so Rouhani has sought to pursue his economic imperatives without crossing the Supreme Leader or the military elite on the nuclear issue.