Iran's supreme leader runs 'state within a state' through secret 4,000-person network, report says

The report, Unmasking the Bayt: Inside the Supreme Leader’s Office, published by United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) and authored by Saeid Golkar and Kasra Aarabi, describes the Bayt, the Office of the Supreme Leader, as a vast institutional network embedded across Iran’s military, economy, religious institutions and state bureaucracy. The report places the Bayt at the top of Iran’s power hierarchy, above the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the formal government. "The Bayt is the core apparatus… the strategic policymaking body that is driving the ballistic missile program, the nuclear program, [and] regional destabilization," Aarabi said.