Unpaid IRGC Troops Face Insurgency as U.S. Blockade Bites
Eight security personnel killed in Sistan and Baluchestan as inflation hits 90% and remaining crude shipments to China face a December cutoff.
U.S. Central Command chief Adm. Brad Cooper said Friday that a naval blockade has stopped Iran from exporting at least $25 billion worth of crude oil, triggering salary freezes for Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps troops who are simultaneously fighting separatist militants in the country’s southeast.
The cash shortfall is forcing Iran-aligned militia groups across the region to withhold payments to their own fighters and funnel money back to the IRGC, which also is not paying its troops, according to Cooper. Nearly $350 million in cryptocurrency assets have been frozen by the U.S. and its partners.
Eight members of Iran’s security forces — including a police officer, a Basij militia fighter, and a senior IRGC commander — were killed in Sistan and Baluchestan province over the past three weeks, state media reported. Separatist attacks in the southeastern border region have escalated just as the military prepares for a potential U.S. offensive following American midterm elections.
Landing Craft, Air Cushion 52, assigned to Assault Craft Unit 5, departs the well of San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Portland (LPD 27), during launch and recovery operations, Oct. 9, 2026.
U.S. Navy
Oil sales typically fund about a third of Iran’s state budget and serve as a primary revenue stream for the IRGC. The remaining trickle of crude exports — shipments already at sea before the U.S. reimposed its blockade, primarily destined for China — could run dry by December, stripping Tehran of its top source of hard currency.
Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has expressed concern over the economic collapse, while Mohsen Rezaei, Iran’s top security official, admitted earlier this month through state media that the country is enduring one of its most difficult periods ever. Inflation sits near 90% and accelerates monthly, forcing consumers to buy groceries on installment plans.
Retired government employees staged protests in recent weeks after failing to receive full pensions, according to the New York Times. Workers in both the public and private sectors announced on social media they are quitting due to insufficient pay.
Despite the resurgence in Iranian attacks on commercial shipping in the Persian Gulf, regional oil flows remain near prewar levels because neighboring countries export their crude under U.S. military protection.
“As the Iranian regime weakens, the number of such local movements will likely multiply in number and consolidate in power,” Shay Khatiri, a senior fellow at the Yorktown Institute, wrote in a post for the Middle East Forum, pointing to stretched security forces lacking resources against mounting foreign and internal threats.
