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WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is increasingly questioning
the long-term stability of Tehran's government and moving to find ways
to support Iran's opposition "Green Movement," said senior U.S.
officials.

The White House is crafting new financial sanctions specifically
designed to punish the Iranian entities and individuals most directly
involved in the crackdown on Iran's dissident forces, said the U.S.
officials, rather than just those involved in Iran's nuclear program.

U.S. Treasury Department strategists already have been focusing on
Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has emerged as the economic and
military power behind Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

In recent weeks, senior Green Movement figures -- who have been
speaking at major Washington think tanks -- have made up a list of
IRGC-related companies they suggest targeting, which has been forwarded
to the Obama administration by third parties.

Names on the list include Iran's largest telecommunications
provider, Telecommunication Company of Iran, which is majority-owned by
the IRGC, and the Iranian Aluminum Co. A U.S. official involved in Iran
said the administration wouldn't comment on whether it was acting on
the information.

American diplomats, meanwhile, have begun drawing comparisons in
public between... >>>