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Kambiz Foroohar is a journalist and a strategic consultant focusing on national security and Iran. As a strategist for Medley Global Advisors, Kambiz helped clients navigate U.S. sanctions policies. He has advised many U.S. organizations on their strategy towards Iran. As an award-winning senior writer for Bloomberg News, Kambiz wrote a series of articles tracking the flow of illicit money across the Middle East.
Kambiz is the co-author of “The Wind in My Hair,” a book by Masih Alinejad about the struggle for women’s rights in Iran. He has been published in Wall Street Journal, National Interest and Forbes magazine.
Political football: How the Iranian government intervenes in sports
Because of football’s popularity, there is significant involvement by regime insiders. The Revolutionary Guards’ transition from barracks to boardrooms began back in the mid-1990s, when they took on management roles in some of the country’s most high-profile sports. Sports were not high on the agenda for the revolutionaries who overthrew the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1979, but as sports has grown in popularity and in profitability, it has become increasingly politicized. Over the past two decades, most sports clubs and related bodies have been taken over by political or security-military organizations, with former Revolutionary Guards holding the top positions.
