Iran's dam diplomacy
Michael Rubin | Operational Environment Watch
May 05, 2013
Irans best known exports are oil, pistachios, caviar, and carpets, but over the past decade the Islamic Republic has quietly become a major force in dam construction. Iran today ranks third in dam building internationally, after China and Japan [1], and today it is building the worlds tallest concrete dam in Lorestan, in western Iran.[2]
While Iran has been building dozens of dams across the country, it has increasingly looked to the external market. The Eini project announced in the excerpted article is part of Irans outreach to Tajikistan. It is not the first hydroelectric plant Iranian engineers have built in that Central Asian republic: in 2006 an Iranian firm began construction of the Sangtoudeh II plant, approximately 45 miles southeast of the Tajik capital Dushanbe.[3] Iran is also building dams in Kyrgyzstan and in neighboring Azerbaijan and Armenia.[4] More recently, Iran has begun to develop dams further afield, for example, in Nicaragua and Ecuador.[5] Dam construction has also been the flagship of the Iranian push into traditional Sunni and Christian areas in northern Lebanon, an area of increasing strategic importance to the Islamic Republic, as it abuts the Alawi-dominated Latakia region.[6]
Iranian dam building cannot be dismissed simply as an outgrowth of Tehrans desire to diversify its economy. The firms contracted to build such hydroelectric plants without exception fall under the rubric of Khatam al-Anbia, the economic wing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Not only do they therefore represent a mechanism by which the IRGC can bolster its budget beyond ordinary line items and win Iranian hard currency, but also the dam construction can provide a means to insert IRGC members into areas where they could, in theory, conduct surveillance or support other operations. Khatam al-Anbia can also exploit partnerships with construction and engineering firms outside Iran in order to acquire technology and equipment which the Iranian government would be unable to import directly because of sanctions.
[1]Fifteen New Dams to Come On Stream in Iran, Tehran Times, 6 April 2013, Fifteen new dams to come on stream in Iran - Tehran Times
[2]John Daly, Iran Abandons Chinese Help, to Build Worlds Highest Hydroelectric Plant Alone, OilPrice.com, 1 April 2013,
Iran Abandons Chinese Help, to Build World
[3]Sangtoudeh II first turbine inaugurated in presence of President, Website of the Presidency of Iran, 5 September 2011
- Sangtoudeh II first turbine inaugurated in presence of President
[4]The International Projects of Iranian Companies, Information Center of International Contractors of Iran,
INTERNATIONAL CONTRACTORS OF IRAN : projects : english, Accessed 11 April 2013;
Armenian-Iranian HPPs to be constructed on Araks River, News.am (Yerevan), 16 September 2010,
Armenian-Iranian HPPs to be constructed on Araks River | Armenia News - NEWS.am
Azerbaijan, Iran seek to coop in construction of power plants, Today.az (Baku), 1 December 2011,
Today.Az - Azerbaijan, Iran seek to coop in construction of power plants
[5]Iran To Build $230 Million Hydroelectric Dam In Nicaragua, Associated Press, March 13, 2008; Larry Luxner, Venezuelas Relations With Iran Unclear In Event of Chávezs Death, Diàlogo (Doral, Florida), 14 January 2013
VENEZUELA
[6]Iran Grants Lebanon $40 million to Build Dam, The Daily Star (Beirut), 17 November 2012,
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Business/Lebanon/2012/Nov-17/195306-iran-grants-lebanon-$40-million-to-build-dam.ashx#axzz2QCmhptXC
http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/Archives/GSW/Current/current.pdf
Michael Rubin | Operational Environment Watch
May 05, 2013
Irans best known exports are oil, pistachios, caviar, and carpets, but over the past decade the Islamic Republic has quietly become a major force in dam construction. Iran today ranks third in dam building internationally, after China and Japan [1], and today it is building the worlds tallest concrete dam in Lorestan, in western Iran.[2]
While Iran has been building dozens of dams across the country, it has increasingly looked to the external market. The Eini project announced in the excerpted article is part of Irans outreach to Tajikistan. It is not the first hydroelectric plant Iranian engineers have built in that Central Asian republic: in 2006 an Iranian firm began construction of the Sangtoudeh II plant, approximately 45 miles southeast of the Tajik capital Dushanbe.[3] Iran is also building dams in Kyrgyzstan and in neighboring Azerbaijan and Armenia.[4] More recently, Iran has begun to develop dams further afield, for example, in Nicaragua and Ecuador.[5] Dam construction has also been the flagship of the Iranian push into traditional Sunni and Christian areas in northern Lebanon, an area of increasing strategic importance to the Islamic Republic, as it abuts the Alawi-dominated Latakia region.[6]
Iranian dam building cannot be dismissed simply as an outgrowth of Tehrans desire to diversify its economy. The firms contracted to build such hydroelectric plants without exception fall under the rubric of Khatam al-Anbia, the economic wing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Not only do they therefore represent a mechanism by which the IRGC can bolster its budget beyond ordinary line items and win Iranian hard currency, but also the dam construction can provide a means to insert IRGC members into areas where they could, in theory, conduct surveillance or support other operations. Khatam al-Anbia can also exploit partnerships with construction and engineering firms outside Iran in order to acquire technology and equipment which the Iranian government would be unable to import directly because of sanctions.
[1]Fifteen New Dams to Come On Stream in Iran, Tehran Times, 6 April 2013, Fifteen new dams to come on stream in Iran - Tehran Times
[2]John Daly, Iran Abandons Chinese Help, to Build Worlds Highest Hydroelectric Plant Alone, OilPrice.com, 1 April 2013,
Iran Abandons Chinese Help, to Build World
[3]Sangtoudeh II first turbine inaugurated in presence of President, Website of the Presidency of Iran, 5 September 2011
- Sangtoudeh II first turbine inaugurated in presence of President
[4]The International Projects of Iranian Companies, Information Center of International Contractors of Iran,
INTERNATIONAL CONTRACTORS OF IRAN : projects : english, Accessed 11 April 2013;
Armenian-Iranian HPPs to be constructed on Araks River, News.am (Yerevan), 16 September 2010,
Armenian-Iranian HPPs to be constructed on Araks River | Armenia News - NEWS.am
Azerbaijan, Iran seek to coop in construction of power plants, Today.az (Baku), 1 December 2011,
Today.Az - Azerbaijan, Iran seek to coop in construction of power plants
[5]Iran To Build $230 Million Hydroelectric Dam In Nicaragua, Associated Press, March 13, 2008; Larry Luxner, Venezuelas Relations With Iran Unclear In Event of Chávezs Death, Diàlogo (Doral, Florida), 14 January 2013
VENEZUELA
[6]Iran Grants Lebanon $40 million to Build Dam, The Daily Star (Beirut), 17 November 2012,
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Business/Lebanon/2012/Nov-17/195306-iran-grants-lebanon-$40-million-to-build-dam.ashx#axzz2QCmhptXC
http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/Archives/GSW/Current/current.pdf
