The operatives of Sepah, Iran’s state within a state, are many in number. They include the construction workers digging out underground missile bases, the skippers on speedboats harrying oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and the co-ordinators of militia activities in neighbouring Iraq. All of them will be reading the runes on how and when the war with America and Israel will end, as continued efforts by Pakistan to mediate a peace deal continue this weekend.
Sepah-e Pasdaran, usually translated as the Guards Corps, but habitually referred to by Iranians by that single word, grew from an army of the ultra-faithful during the bloody 1980s war with Iraq into an entity that controls up to one third of the economy and the military units used to crush dissent in the theocratic republic. However, its future power may depend on the degree to which sanctions on Iran are eased.
