Commander of the IRGC: We Have Entered the Agricultural Sector

On Wednesday, March 2, the Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) stated that this military force has recently entered the agricultural sector to assist with 'resistance economy.' According to Nasim Online, Mohammad Ali Jafari expressed this at the fourth festival of 'Jihadists of Science and Technology' at the Islamic Azad University’s 'Knowledge-Based' exhibition. However, he did not provide further details about the IRGC's actions in agriculture. The ISNA news agency also reported that the IRGC commander expressed hope that this military force would be 'the first requester and buyer of domestic technology products.' He stated that 'most of the produced products are defensive, agricultural, and industrial, and we hope the IRGC will be the first requester and buyer of these products, and this work will gradually develop in the country.' Jafari added that 'unfortunately, we have connected more easily to foreign countries and easily buy foreign products available in the country, which is a problem for the research and technology sector.' The IRGC, which has long been active in cultural and political fields in addition to military ones, had previously announced its involvement in 'deprivation alleviation in deprived areas.' Abolqasem Mansouri, the Deputy of Planning and Program of the IRGC Ground Force, had previously stated in an interview with Fars News Agency that 'the issue of deprivation alleviation has officially been on the agenda of the IRGC since 2008.' He declared that the goal of the IRGC's entry into deprivation alleviation is to 'strengthen the alignment and cooperation of the population in these areas with the regime and simultaneously create jobs.' In recent years, the IRGC has implemented dozens of small and large projects in livestock and agriculture across various cities in Iran as part of the 'resistance economy' initiative, in collaboration with the Basij Organization. These two military entities have also announced that they provide loans of up to 300 million rials to Basij forces with economic justification under the 'resistance economy' plan. The activation of the IRGC and the Basij Organization in agriculture and livestock follows a request from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, for the implementation of the 'resistance economy' plan aimed at countering international sanctions against Iran. The publication of some reports regarding the import of 'manipulated' agricultural products for 'biological terrorism' purposes in Iran could also be another reason for the military's entry into agriculture. Gholamreza Jalali, the head of Iran's Passive Defense Organization, had also stated in July 2015 that 'while taking advantage of biotechnology opportunities in agriculture, such as genetic modification, we must be very cautious of its threats.' He mentioned that 'in the realm of passive defense, we face an issue called biological threats in agriculture, which is usually referred to as 'agro-terrorism.'