the author is abraham sofaer who is a senior fellow at the hoover institution. doctor sofaer, is our current strategy of sanctions working against iran? >> guest: we are certainly putting pressure on them economically, but it's hurting the people of iran more than it's hurting the iranian revolutionary guard core. they are really our enemy. the answer is no. >> host: in your book, you spend quite a bit of time talk about the irgc, the revolutionary guard corp. who are they? >> they were creating under the new iranian constitution in 1979 with the assignment of defending the islamic character of the iranian revolution. they have an enormous amount of assets and responsibilities. they are very radical. they have -- they control many defense industries. they have their own army, air force, and navy. they control the missile program, and they are under the eye ayatollah. they have a force which does assassination and other interventions abroad. right now their force is the group that is helping asad stay in power in syria. >> what is the relationship with the preside