Pasdaran - Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) - Activities
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), tasked with defending the Iranian revolutionary regime, is the elite wing of the Iranian military, although it is technically separate from it, and is the main tool for building Iranian regional hegemony in the Middle East. The IRGC was established after the Iranian Islamic Revolution in 1979 by order of Ayatollah Khomeini to protect the new Islamic Republic from coups, defend it against internal and external threats, export the Iranian Islamic Revolution to neighboring countries, especially those with large Shiite populations, and spread revolutionary Shiite Islam worldwide. It has acquired a major role in implementing Iran's foreign policy and exercises control over large sectors of the economy. It is directly subordinate to the Supreme Leader, operates outside the law and the judiciary, and is influential in domestic politics. Many senior officials have passed through its ranks. By sponsoring armed groups in the region, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Palestine, it helps Iran project its power in the Middle East and appear as the most influential and important power in the region.
The Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) transformed the IRGC into a fighting force with a command structure similar to that of a conventional army. It is now a parallel force to Iran’s regular armed forces, with over 190,000 troops under its command, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, about half of them conscripts.
The IRGC first deployed abroad during the Iran-Iraq War, and began sponsoring non-state armed groups in the region. The Quds Force has emerged as the IRGC’s de facto foreign affairs branch, providing a wide range of interventions: combat, intelligence, and special operations. It has developed relationships with armed groups in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, and elsewhere, providing them with training, weapons, money, and military advice to carry out Iran’s expansionist project abroad. While some of these groups often operate independently of Iran and each other, Tehran views them as part of an anti-Western “axis of resistance” under its control.
By supporting and empowering these groups, Tehran has sought to export its revolution and deter potential aggression from Western powers and its perennial enemy, Israel. For example, Lebanon’s Hezbollah shares Iran’s hostility to the United States and Israel, which occupied southern Lebanon when the group was founded. The 1983 bombings of the U.S. Embassy, ??U.S. Marines, and French paratrooper barracks in Beirut, as well as the assassinations of numerous regime opponents, have been attributed to Iran and its proxy, Hezbollah. In addition, Western and Middle Eastern intelligence officials have linked the IRGC to the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, although Tehran has denied responsibility.
The IRGC has also become a major player in Iranian domestic politics, becoming the country’s most important organization. Between 1997 and 2005, the number of former IRGC members who became involved in politics increased. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who led the IRGC during the Iran-Iraq War, appointed former IRGC commanders to senior political positions, and they tend to advocate a hardline foreign policy and support the development of Iran’s nuclear program.
Among the interests the IRGC defends is its economic empire; according to a 2020 report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, “the IRGC has become the most powerful controller of all important economic sectors across Iran.” The IRGC became an economic player when it was tasked with rebuilding infrastructure destroyed in the Iran-Iraq War, and its activities have since expanded to include many other industries, including oil, banking, construction, telecommunications, shipping, manufacturing, and consumer imports.
The Revolutionary Guards own many banks and large economic institutions, most notably the Khatam al-Anbia Engineering Company, whose oil and gas contracts amount to $20 billion, in addition to the Ansar and Mehr financial institutions. These economic activities enrich the IRGC’s leaders and finance its operations, such as arms purchases, covert interventions abroad, and Iran’s nuclear program.
The IRGC is unpopular among Iranians; its reputation was severely damaged after it accidentally shot down a passenger jet flying over Iranian airspace in January 2020, killing all 176 people on board, most of them Iranians. In addition, the Basij and the IRGC in general have been accused of shooting, sexually assaulting and torturing Iranians involved in the “Women, Life, Freedom” anti-government protest movement that erupted in Iran in late 2022.
Hassan Abbasi, the head of the Centre for Doctrinal Strategic Studies, a think-tank, was arrested 03 August 2016 on charges of “spreading lies” and “creating an atmosphere of skepticism about the armed forces.” Abbasi is known in Iran for his divisive speeches on subjects including economics, history, politics and cinema. In a video published on social media networks in Iran, Abbasi, who calls himself the “Kissinger of Islam,” criticized the army for inaction on social and political issues. He later appeared in a military court, and defended his remarks. They drew strong condemnation from the army and the powerful hard-line military group, the Revolutionary Guards.
The new era in 2019 was the era in which the Corps conquered a successful victory period in West Asia and was preparing itself for a new era of clearer contrast with the Americans and Zionists. The Islamic Republic's successes in the West Asia region, especially in important cases such as ISIL, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and even Yemen, and the shift in balance of power in favor of the Islamic Republic, required the creation of strategic literature both inside and outside the country, which these victories complete the show.
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