Long used to lucrative state contracts, Iran’s biggest construction company faces leaner times, as overseas firms better able to attract financing push for orders in an economy trying to open to the world after years of sanctions. The misfortunes of Khatam al Anbia Construction Headquarters (KAA) are an unwelcome novelty for its powerful owners, the Revolutionary Guards, a military unit created by the Islamic Republic’s founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini which also secured an economic foothold after the 1980s Iran-Iraq war. The conglomerate came to dominate the building sector under the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad between 2005 and 2013, winning billions of dollars of state contracts for oil and gas facilities, roads and dams. The Guards have not hesitated to make their displeasure public. “The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has huge potential in construction fields,” […]