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- The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), also called Pasdaran or Sepah, is a branch of the Iranian armed forces that is independent of Iran’s regular army. It was established by Ruhollah Khomeini to safeguard the Islamic republic and has since become Iran’s dominant military force, with its own army, navy, air force, and intelligence.
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The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ( IRGC; Persian: سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی Sepāh-e Pāsdārān-e Enqelâb-e Eslâmī, lit. 'Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution' ), also called Sepah or Pasdaran, is a multi-service primary branch of the Iranian Armed Forces.
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- Overview
- Establishment and development
- Growth and entrenchment
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), branch of the Iranian armed forces, independent of Iran’s regular army (the latter is sometimes called Artesh). Iran’s leader Ruhollah Khomeini established the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in April 1979 by decree and tasked it with safeguarding the Islamic republic that was formed after the Iran...
Following a year of unrest, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi fled Iran in January 1979. A referendum in March approved the establishment of an Islamic republic under the leadership of Khomeini, who had laid out the intellectual basis of an Islamic republic in the decades prior to the revolution. Although Iran’s armed forces had declared their neutrality to the revolution in February, many of the revolutionaries were fearful of a repeat of the 1953 countercoup, in which the military aided in the ouster of Mohammad Mosaddegh and the restoration of the shah. Khomeini established the IRGC to unify and organize paramilitary forces that were committed to the revolution; the unified force would thus serve as a counterweight to the regular army, which had originally been loyal to the shah. The permanence of the IRGC was formalized in the new constitution adopted later that year.
The IRGC resisted attempts to subjugate it to political control and bring it within the fold of the regular armed forces. Tension was particularly pronounced between the IRGC and Iran’s first president, Abolhasan Bani-Sadr (1980–81), whose friction with various government figures led to his impeachment and removal from office in 1981. The two subsequent presidents, however, Mohammad Ali Rajaʾi (August 1981) and Ali Khamenei (1981–89), were favourable to the IRGC, and Khamenei aided the organization with expansive resources. Although the IRGC was initially deployed in the Iran-Iraq War to bolster the efforts of the regular army, it grew in force, structure, and complexity with the support of the political establishment. A contingent for foreign operations, known as the Quds Force, became active in the Lebanese Civil War in 1982, and Khomeini authorized the creation of a navy and an air force in 1985.
After Khamenei became the leader of Iran upon Khomeini’s death in 1989, the IRGC became increasingly entrenched. The organization remained largely absent from the public sphere during the presidency of Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (1989–97), but it was encouraged to take on a substantial role in the economic development of postwar Iran. A turning point came in 1997 with the election of Pres. Mohammad Khatami (1997–2005), whose popular reform agenda threatened to undermine the dominance of the IRGC and of conservative clerics like Khamenei. The IRGC began to intervene in political affairs, and Khamenei authorized the establishment of an intelligence wing in order to strengthen the IRGC’s hand.
Under the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005–13), himself a veteran of the IRGC, both the political representation and the economic prowess of the IRGC ballooned. Dozens of former IRGC officers were placed in senior posts in government, while the IRGC was awarded innumerable government contracts and billions of dollars in loans to undertake large projects. In 2009, when demonstrations broke out amid allegations of irregularities in Ahmadinejad’s reelection, the IRGC was instrumental in suppressing the protests. Frustrated with the Intelligence Ministry’s inability to prevent unrest, Khamenei ordered an expansion of the IRGC’s intelligence wing that rivaled the government ministry.
When international sanctions targeted Iran’s nuclear program in the early 2010s, the effect on the IRGC was rough, though mitigated. Ensconced in Iran’s economy, IRGC-owned businesses suffered along with the rest of the Iranian market. But the IRGC also profited off smuggling activities and benefited from reduced competition in the legal market. Still, with the economy lagging, the IRGC ultimately supported the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), an agreement between Iran and six other countries in 2015 which limited Iran’s nuclear program.
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Alongside both the entrenchment and resilience of the IRGC came heavy setbacks. As international intrigue focused on the IRGC’s outsize role in Iranian policy, the United States withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018 and targeted the IRGC with layers of sanctions. A number of high-profile figures within the IRGC were assassinated—including Qassem Soleimani, a major general of the IRGC and commander of the Quds Force—while intelligence leaks and corruption scandals further served to destabilize its power structure. In June 2022, as Iranians grew increasingly restless over the country’s state of affairs, an unexpected shake-up in the IRGC’s top leadership revealed a power struggle within its ranks.
Apr 17, 2024 · Introduction. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is the ideological custodian of Iran’s 1979 revolution. Charged with defending the Islamic Republic against internal and...
Jan 3, 2020 · Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) was set up 40 years ago to defend the country's Islamic system, and to provide a counterweight to the regular armed forces. It has since...
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Ground Forces (Persian: نیروی زمینی سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی), acronymed NEZSA (Persian: نزسا), are the ground forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The IRGC Ground Forces are more geared towards internal disorder than the regular Iranian Army.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) (Persian: سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی, romanized: Sepâh-e Pâsdârân-e Enghelâb-e Eslâmi, lit. 'Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution' or Sepâh for short) is a military branch of the Iranian government Armed Forces .
Oct 11, 2010 · The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is Iran’s most powerful security and military organization, responsible for the protection and survival of the regime. The Guards are also currently Iran’s most powerful economic actor, reinforcing their influence over political decisions.
