Rahmani also said: “Presently, the variety of drugs has surpassed the traditional ones and there is market for industrial drugs. All kinds of drugs are presented for various purposes, including for the university students. Last (Persian) year, we confiscated 500 tons of drugs and this year, in just the first nine months, we have confiscated the same amount.”

In an interview last year with Tejarat-e Farda Weekly, Mostafa Pour Mohammadi, head of the national inspection organization, declared that the policy of circumventing sanctions has increased corruption. He reported that the Intelligence Ministry has become involved with drug smuggling and said: “There is no benefit in the transit of drugs that one apparatus is carrying out and anybody doing it is surely hurting the country.”

German ZDF TV reported last year: “The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps is the biggest state smuggler of drugs in the world.”

Die Welt of ZDF TV wrote: “[The] Iranian regime’s security forces are involved in the smuggling of drugs. The Iranian regime purchases a large volume of impure Afghan opium and turns it into pure opium. The income of the IRGC in smuggling drugs to Europe stands at several billion Euros.”

There is an international warrant for the arrest of IRGC Brigadier General Gholamreza Baghbani, a Qods Force commander, for his role in terrorism and drug smuggling. The U.S. Treasury declared in March 2012 that he is one of the heads of major band of drug smugglers, their report stated: “Brigadier General Baghbani, who controls the Afghan border, has aided in the smuggling of chemicals for production of opium and has given an open corridor to Afghan smugglers into Iran. Documents show that Gholamreza Baghbani allowed Afghan smugglers to pass through Iran to send drugs to Europe. In return, he uses them for sending weapons and ammunition to the Taliban forces in Afghanistan.”