Telegraph.co.UK

"

Hillary Clinton claims Iran is becoming 'military dictatorship'

Hillary Clinton has accused Iran of becoming a "military dictatorship" with a scathing attack on the growing influence of the country's powerful Revolutionary Guard.

By Adrian Blomfield, Middle East Correspondent , Published: 6:05PM GMT 15 Feb 2010

In a clear signal Washington intends to make Iran's military hierarchy the prime target of a new round of United Nations sanctions, the US Secretary of State warned the elite unit had effectively mounted a silent coup.

"We see that the government of Iran, the supreme leader, the president, the parliament [are] being supplanted and that Iran is moving towards a military dictatorship," she said in a blunt assessment delivered to students in Qatar during a three-day tour of the Arabian peninsula.

"I fear the rise of the influence and power of the Revolutionary Guard poses a very direct threat to everyone."

The Revolutionary Guard is viewed by many as the dominant political, economic and military force in the country. With over 120,000 men under its command, it has become the bedrock of the Iranian regime, protecting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the country's president who was once a Guard officer himself.

Since Mr Ahmadinejad's controversial re-election last June, it has further cemented its power by using its feared Basij paramilitary wing to lead the suppression of protests by the opposition's so-called Green Movement.

So brutal were the Basij's tactics that Britain and France yesterday led calls demanding an independent investigation into the post-election violence amid renewed allegations of widespread torture and even extrajudicial execution of political dissidents. Besides its political influence, the Revolutionary Guard has also caused international alarm because of its control over Iran's missile programme.

More than half of the Iranian cabinet is filled with ex-Guard veterans, and US National Security Adviser James Jones has said sanctions against it could "well trigger regime change" in Iran.

But It is the Revolutionary Guard's vast commercial empire that will be in America's sights for sanctions.

Since it was founded to protect the regime in 1979, the Revolutionary Guard's business empire has grown to such an extent that some believe it controls a third of the Iranian economy. With annual revenues of at least £8 billion, it is regularly awarded lucrative state tenders for oil and gas development and has interests ranging from construction, to car manufacturing and banking.

More . . .

"