IRGC, Other Iran Firms Get Mega Gas Deals

Cleric Ali Saidi (right), Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s representative to the IRGC

Iranian media reports say the government has signed contracts worth $21 billion with local firms to develop six gas fields, some of them awarded to the country's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

The state television website said the "contracts to develop the South Pars gas fields -- phases 13, 14, 19, 22, 23, and 24 -- were inked with three consortia including Khatam al-Anbiya," the IRGC's industrial conglomerate.

Khatam al-Anbiya has been targeted under fresh international sanctions which the UN Security Council imposed on June 9.

The report said other deals were won by groups led by Iran's Industrial Development and Renovation Organization (IDRO) and Petropars.

compiled from AFP and other reports