The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) is Iran’s dominant military force. It was set up shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution to protect the Shia clerical ruling system and provide a counterweight to the regular armed forces.
It answers to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The IRGC has an estimated 125,000-strong military with army, navy and air units.
It also commands the Basij religious militia, a volunteer paramilitary force loyal to the clerical establishment that is often used to crack down on anti-government protests.
The Quds Force is the IRGC’s foreign espionage and paramilitary arm that heavily influences its allied militia across Lebanon to Iraq and Yemen to Syria. Its members have fought in support of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria’s civil war and have backed Iraqi security forces in their battle against IS militants in recent years. Its top commander, Maj.
Gen. Qassim Suleimani, was killed by the US in a drone attack in Iraq in 2020. The IRGC has been branded a terrorist group by the US. The IRGC also oversees Iran’s ballistic missile programme, regarded by experts as the largest in West Asia.
It answers to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The IRGC has an estimated 125,000-strong military with army, navy and air units.
It also commands the Basij religious militia, a volunteer paramilitary force loyal to the clerical establishment that is often used to crack down on anti-government protests.
The Quds Force is the IRGC’s foreign espionage and paramilitary arm that heavily influences its allied militia across Lebanon to Iraq and Yemen to Syria. Its members have fought in support of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria’s civil war and have backed Iraqi security forces in their battle against IS militants in recent years. Its top commander, Maj.
Gen. Qassim Suleimani, was killed by the US in a drone attack in Iraq in 2020. The IRGC has been branded a terrorist group by the US. The IRGC also oversees Iran’s ballistic missile programme, regarded by experts as the largest in West Asia.