Criticism of strikes on Iranian infrastructure clashes with claims that the IRGC controls much of the economy, making such targets central to degrading its military power.
Before the U.S. Air Force bombed the B1 bridge in Karaj and the Israeli Air Force bombed Iranian railways, U.S. and foreign politicians and media harshly criticized President Trump for destroying “civilian targets” in Iran, even accusing him of “war crimes.” The president met with much stronger condemnation from a range of people, including Pope Leo XIV, George Clooney, U.N. Secretary General António Guterres, and AOC, after issuing the ultimatum that unless Iran opens the Strait of Hormuz and agrees to a ceasefire, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”
As a temporary ceasefire was declared, many commentators and media outlets have denounced the president and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for targeting “civilian” infrastructure in Iran. However, a closer study reveals that since at least 2004, approximately two-thirds of Iran’s economy has been under the control of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Following constitutional changes in Iran, the IRGC and its affiliated entities were authorized to manage up to 80 percent of the country’s major economic sectors. These sectors include construction, transportation, telecommunications, banking, insurance, real estate, agriculture, mining, energy, defense, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and export/import operations. Many of these businesses operate under the guise of “charitable foundations” known as Bonyads. This structure was designed to allow the IRGC to develop Iran’s shadow economy and circumvent international sanctions.
While international sanctions affected the lesser civilian/legitimate elements of Iran’s economy, the Bonyads—especially those controlled by the IRGC—played a central role in advancing Iran’s “Resistance Economy,” a strategy further reiterated and promoted in 2007 by the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Indeed, this shadow economy is the backbone of the “resistance economy” as such, which pays no taxes while increasing its wealth, assets, and ability to lavishly fund its growing proxy network.
Indeed, destroying critical infrastructure assets that sustain the IRGC and facilitate its fighting is not only legal but essential to weakening the IRGC’s control of Iran’s economy and population. This action should be viewed as a step toward liberating the Iranian people from the oppressive rule of the Islamic Revolutionary regime. The U.S. and Israel should be praised for dismantling their war machine.
As the pressure on Iran increased, the IRGC called on Iranian children to act as human shields against American and Israeli military operations. This is reminiscent of tactics employed by Hamas for decades against Israel. The IRGC knew it could count on most international media and international organizations, such as the United Nations and international NGOs, who falsely accused Israel of being responsible for Hamas’s own atrocities, to follow suit and side with the Islamic Revolutionary Government of Iran. As Hamas has successfully done for decades, the IRGC propaganda falsely blames the U.S. and Israel for their efforts to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles, funding proxies, and spreading anti-Western hatred and terrorism worldwide. Such strategies sought and succeeded in provoking strong international condemnation and falsely accusing the United States and Israel of committing “war crimes.”
It is perplexing that, instead of supporting U.S. and Israeli efforts to prevent the death cult that took control of Iran 47 years ago—from obtaining nuclear weapons it has pledged to use—a regime that has since propagated antisemitism, rejected Judeo-Christian values, fostered hatred of Western civilization, and spread violence globally, European and other Western countries, along with their media, have repeatedly reinforced this fanatic jihadist regime’s narrative so effectively that even their leaders have refused to offer even indirect assistance in eliminating the deadly threat it poses.
And the war is not over yet. How and when it could end will be decided in negotiations between the U.S. and Iran in Islamabad. One can hope that the unjust criticism and undue pressure will not influence President Trump’s courageous and fearless decision to rid the world of the existential threat posed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary death cult.
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Rachel Ehrenfeld is Director of the American Center for Democracy and author of Funding Evil—How Terrorism is Funded and How To Stop It and The Soros Agenda.
- This article was first published at American Greastness on April 13, 2026.