Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei sits at the pinnacle of Iran’s kleptocracy. The organizing framework for Iran’s kleptocracy is the vast network of parastatal organizations connected to, and ultimately controlled by, the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). But the dollar cost of Iran’s kleptocracy surely runs into hundreds of billions. Tehran’s response—botched by mismanagement and hijacked by profiteers—provides a particularly harrowing example of the suffering that Iran’s kleptocracy causes. But Washington can do much more to expose and constrain Iran’s kleptocracy.

Source: Washington Post October 12, 2022 00:22 UTC