Jonathan W. Hackett, a former U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer, said that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) controls the entire black market—from iPhone and car smuggling to luxury imports—making it its primary source of income. This shadow economy has not only boosted the financial empire of regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei and the IRGC but has also placed additional pressure on the Iranian people.
Hackett, who has worked with the National Security Agency (NSA), Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), and U.S. Special Operations Command, said in a podcast by the Baykam Institute that the U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal (JCPOA) and the reimposition of sanctions concentrated financial resources in the IRGC’s hands. He noted that Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran’s regime, is now among the wealthiest individuals in the world.
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According to Hackett, the sanctions, contrary to their intended purpose, strengthened the mafia-like structure of the IRGC and the supreme leader’s office. The Iranian people are the main victims of this corrupt and sanctions-ridden system.
Hackett added that the IRGC plays a central role not only in military affairs but also in macroeconomics, foreign trade, infrastructure, and even national financial policymaking.
He stated that Iran’s regime has designed its economic system to exploit the sanctions, maximizing profits while transferring the financial burden to the population.
He added that the IRGC benefits from sanctions rather than suffering from them, calling the system deeply corrupt and driven by favoritism.
Hackett said that officials such as Qassem Soleimani and Esmail Qaani held two and three black diplomatic passports, respectively, allowing them to travel freely across countries. Many other IRGC commanders also use fake identities but official documents to conduct intelligence and financial operations under diplomatic cover.
Hackett added that high-ranking officials, including the governor of Iran’s Central Bank, travel to Western countries such as the United States using diplomatic passports to maintain their financial networks under the guise of diplomacy.
He said that in visa-free countries such as Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, and Ecuador, Iranian intelligence operatives easily meet with their operational units to maintain informal connections.
According to this former intelligence officer, a number of Iranian agents operate in European countries including Sweden, Denmark, the United Kingdom, and others. He claimed that until a few years ago, France and Germany had secret agreements with Tehran allowing it to carry out operations on their soil, provided that such actions did not target French or German citizens.
Hackett stated that the IRGC, through its intelligence operatives, has established a network of front companies across the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, South America, and Africa.
He added that these companies serve as tools for money laundering, capital transfer, smuggling, and tax evasion, operating under a legal façade while serving the IRGC’s intelligence and economic activities.
The former intelligence officer emphasized that the patronage-based structure dominating Iran’s economy has effectively destroyed many independent private companies.
According to Hackett, companies operating under the IRGC’s umbrella neither pay taxes nor undergo audits, yet they control billion-rial contracts, import monopolies, and major infrastructure projects. Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters is only one of the IRGC’s economic arms, active in the oil, construction, infrastructure, and petrochemical sectors.
In another part of his interview with the Baykam Institute, Hackett pointed out that many Iranian “diplomats” sent abroad are actually trained intelligence operatives tasked with conducting covert missions, coordinating with proxy militias, and transferring weapons and cash. These agents exploit diplomatic immunity to freely carry out their illicit operations.
He stated that since the killing of Qassem Soleimani, the Quds Force has increasingly focused on cyber and espionage operations targeting regime opponents in Europe and the United States. “There is evidence that some abduction or assassination plots against dissidents in Western countries have been coordinated through embassies and using these diplomatic passports.”
Hackett further discussed the profit cycle of the black market, saying that much of Iran’s illegal imports—from iPhones to Audi and Mercedes vehicles—are conducted through underground networks linked to the IRGC. Car parts are imported separately and assembled inside Iran to bypass import restrictions.
Hackett said that sanctions alone are insufficient to confront this complex system. The supply chains and financial networks must be identified and exposed, front companies revealed, and regional links severed. Effective pressure will only occur when both the IRGC’s internal structure and its external networks are simultaneously weakened.
He concluded by emphasizing that Iran’s regime is no longer merely a government, but a multilayered structure built on military, intelligence, and economic institutions, led by the IRGC and the office of the supreme leader.
