Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is an Iranian military force that also behaves like a corporation. In September 2009, a consortium affiliated with the Guards bought 51 percent of the shares in the Telecommunication Company of Iran. The price was 7.8 billion dollars. It was the largest single transaction in the history of the Tehran Stock Exchange. An armed force created to defend a revolution had become one of the biggest buyers in the country.
How did a militia born from political upheaval reach that position? What does the organization actually do, from missiles to speedboats to volunteers on street corners? And why do governments and analysts disagree so sharply about whether it is a guardian of the state, a ruler of the state, or a terrorist organization?
Ordinary Iranians call the force Sepah. The word carries an old connotation of soldiers, and in modern Persian it can also describe a corps-sized unit. Artesh is the standard modern word for an army, and it names the separate regular military. Government bodies in Iran are usually known by one-word names that describe their function, and Sepah follows that habit.
Members are called Pasdaran, the plural of Pasdar, which means Guardian. Pasdar is also a title that follows a member's rank. The government, the Iranian media and the force's supporters generally use the full name Sepah-e Pasdaran, meaning Army of the Guardians. Pasdaran-e Enghelab, meaning Guardians of the Revolution, is also heard. The choice of word carries a message. Among Iranians, and especially among diaspora Iranians, saying Pasdaran signals either hatred or admiration.
Outside Iran the names multiply. Most foreign governments and English-language media say Iranian Revolutionary Guards or simply the Revolutionary Guards. The United States government standard is Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, while the United Nations uses Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The corps emblem carries a line of text above a weapon. It comes from Surah Al-Anfal, and in Abdullah Yusuf Ali's translation it reads: "Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power."
On the 5th of May 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued the decree that created the Pasdaran. Khomeini had returned to Tehran on the 1st of February 1979, and the interim administration of Mehdi Bazargan carried out the order. One account names Abbas Duzduzani as the man who formed the corps. Its purpose was to gather several paramilitary forces into one body loyal to the new government. It was also meant to balance the regular military, which was seen as a possible source of opposition because of its traditional loyalty to the Shah.
The new Constitution of the Islamic Republic divided the work in two. The Artesh received the defense of territorial integrity and political independence. The Pasdaran received the task of preserving the Revolution itself. Most interpretations say this means preventing foreign interference, thwarting coups by the traditional military, and crushing "deviant movements" that harm the ideological legacy of the Revolution.
Article 150 of the Constitution recognizes the corps as part of the Iranian military, parallel to the Artesh. Its founders had further motives. The Revolution needed a force of its own instead of borrowing units tainted by the old regime. An armed body also told both the population and the regular army that the Khomeini government was building its own means of enforcement. The corps was meant to help the ruling clerics apply Islamic codes and morality in daily life, and in time it came to rival the police and the judiciary in its functions.
The Iran-Iraq War of 1980-1988 turned a young militia into a pillar of the state. The corps emerged from that war as a largely independent organization on which the clerical leadership relied. Its share of the military budget was 7.3 percent in 1980, then 20.3 percent by 1982, and almost 50 percent by 1987.
The Aerospace Force holds the strategic missile program. It was renamed in 2009, having previously been called the IRGC Air Force. Its roughly 15,000 personnel operate around 80 aircraft and several thousand short- and medium-range mobile ballistic missiles. These include the Shahab-3 and Shahab-3B, with a range of up to 2,100 kilometers.
The Navy began its operations during the "Tanker War" phase of the Iran-Iraq War, using swarm tactics and speedboats. It overlaps with the regular Artesh Navy in function, yet it trains, equips and fights differently. It relies on small fast attack craft, hit-and-run tactics, coastal defense and anti-ship cruise missiles, and mines. One description calls it a guerrilla force at sea. It also has a special force unit, known as the Sepah Navy Special Force. Today it is the primary force exercising operational control over the Persian Gulf, serving as a de facto coast guard.
The Quds Force, or Jerusalem Force, is estimated at 2,000 to 5,000 members. It is sometimes described as the successor to the Shah's Imperial Guards. It works abroad, specializing in unconventional warfare, military intelligence and clandestine operations. Its central mission is to train, direct and liaise with pro-Iranian groups such as Hezbollah and the Houthis.
On the 4th of November 1979, during the Iran hostage crisis, Khomeini addressed the Revolutionary Guards and ordered the creation of an "army of 20 million". He told his listeners to get military training, to train their friends, and that "In an Islamic country, everyone should be a soldier and have military training." The Basij volunteer militia is widely believed to be the result, along with Article 151 of the Constitution, which calls for military training for all citizens.
Estimates of Basij strength vary widely. Iranian official figures sometimes exceed 20 million part-time and full-time members. Other estimates give a core strength of 90,000, rising to as many as 600,000, or about 100,000 with hundreds of thousands more who could be mobilized in an all-out war. Members are visible on street corners in every Iranian city. They serve as law enforcement auxiliaries, organize public religious ceremonies, act as morality police, and break up dissident gatherings. By 2008 they were also mobilizing voters in elections. The Basij was merged into the corps land forces from 2008, and the IRGC assumed formal command of it in early 2009.
Counts of the whole organization disagree too. One figure gives about 125,000 personnel for the corps, with a further 90,000 active Basij. The 2020 edition of The Military Balance, from IISS, puts the corps at about 190,000 active personnel, including 150,000 in the Ground Force, at least 20,000 in the Navy with 5,000 Marines, and 15,000 in the Aerospace Force. In September 2008 the structure was decentralized into 31 provincial corps, with one for each of the thirty provinces and two for Tehran Province. On the 16th of March 2022 the corps added an independent branch, the Command for the Protection and Security of Nuclear Centres.
In 1982, after Israel invaded Lebanon, the IRGC allegedly sent troops there to train fighters. Reactions inside Lebanon split. Christian militias such as the Lebanese Forces and the Phalanges declared war on the Guards, claiming a violation of Lebanese sovereignty. Muslim militias were mostly neutral, while groups such as the PSP and Mourabiton disliked the presence but stayed silent to protect political alliances. During the 2006 Lebanon War, Israeli forces reportedly killed several Guards in Baalbek. Israeli officials believe Guards trained the Hezbollah fighters behind the missile strike on the INS Hanit, which killed four Israeli sailors.
Before the Syrian war began, Iran had between 2,000 and 3,000 IRGC officers in Syria, training local troops and managing arms and money routes to Lebanon. Guards fought alongside Hezbollah and the Basij in the capture of Qusair on the 9th of June 2013. Two militias carried much of the load. Liwa Fatemiyoun, a Shia Afghan force, was founded in 2013, and Liwa Zainabiyoun, a Shia Pakistani force, in 2015. Many Afghan recruits came from refugees inside Iran and joined in exchange for salaries and citizenship. By late 2015, 194 IRGC troops had died in Syria, almost all of them officers, along with 354 Afghan combatants and 21 Pakistanis. Esmail Qaani, a senior officer, argued: "If the Islamic Republic was not present in Syria, the massacre of civilians would have been twice as bad."
In 2014, two battalions of Revolutionary Guards were reported in Iraq. The IRGC is considered a principal backer of the Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of Shia militias fighting the Islamic State. Major General Qasem Soleimani was instrumental in the ground mission and purportedly planned the Second Battle of Tikrit. Brigadier General Hamid Taqavi was killed by snipers in Samarra in December 2014, and the senior commander Shaaban Nassiri died near Mosul in May 2017. In December 2019, US airstrikes hit weapons caches of the IRGC-sponsored group Kata'ib Hezbollah, which retaliated by attacking the US Embassy in Baghdad. On the 3rd of January 2020, a US drone strike killed Soleimani at Baghdad International Airport, along with the Popular Mobilization Forces commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
On the 8th of January 2020, the corps shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 with a surface-to-air missile. Iranian authorities first denied responsibility. The Aerospace Force then took "full responsibility" for an unintentional shootdown. President Hassan Rouhani said the plane was approaching an IRGC base, and a senior commander said it had been mistaken for a cruise missile. On the 17th of January 2020, Ali Khamenei called it a "bitter" tragedy and said Iran's enemies used it to weaken the IRGC.
On the 21st of October 2022, a White House press release said Iranian troops were in Crimea helping Russia launch drone attacks. The Institute for the Study of War assessed that these were likely IRGC or IRGC-affiliated personnel, since the corps is the primary operator of Iranian drones.
On the 13th of April 2024, the IRGC, together with the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, Hezbollah and the Houthis, launched drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles at Israel. It answered the Israeli bombing of the Iranian embassy in Damascus on the 1st of April, which killed two Iranian generals. It was the largest attempted drone strike in history and Iran's first direct attack on Israel since the proxy conflict began.
On the 13th of June 2025, Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, opening the Twelve-Day War. The first strike killed 30 IRGC generals and 9 nuclear scientists. Among the dead were the commander-in-chief Hossein Salami and Mohammad Bagheri, the armed forces chief of staff and the second-highest commander after Khamenei. US airstrikes then damaged the nuclear facilities at Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow.
In 2010, BBC News called the organization a "business empire". Reuters in 2019 called it "an industrial empire with political clout". The commercial reach began informally, through networks of veterans and former officials. IRGC officials also confiscated assets of many refugees who fled Iran after the fall of Abolhassan Banisadr's government. Estimates of the share of Iran's economy the corps controls through subsidiaries and trusts run from ten percent to over 50 percent. The Los Angeles Times estimated ties to over one hundred companies, with annual revenue above 12 billion dollars.
The main engineering arm is Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters. It employs about 25,000 engineers and staff and is one of Iran's largest contractors. In 2006 its projects were worth over 7 billion dollars, split 70 percent military and 30 percent non-military. The corps has won billions of dollars in contracts in oil, gas, petrochemicals and major infrastructure. It owns 45 percent of the Bahman Group, a carmaker, and holds a majority stake in the naval company SADRA. It also exerts informal influence over bonyads, such as the Mostazafan Foundation. These wealthy, ostensibly charitable foundations were built on the model of informal networks from the Shah's era, and no-bid contracts under Ahmadinejad accelerated their growth.
Some observers call the Guards an "untouchable élite". A former senior Middle Eastern intelligence officer said they and their families have their own schools, markets, neighborhoods and resorts, and that the neighborhoods look "like a carbon copy of Beverly Hills".
In 2023, Iran's military spending was estimated at 10.3 billion dollars, and the IRGC received roughly 37 percent, about 3.8 billion dollars. By 2024 the total budget rose to roughly 16.7 billion dollars, with 10.9 billion officially allocated to military bodies and 5.9 billion more channeled through oil revenues and the National Development Fund. For 2025 the government proposed a 200 percent increase.
Accounts of Iran's water crisis place the corps near its center. Since the 1979 Revolution, Iran has pursued food self-sufficiency with water-hungry crops such as wheat, rice and sugar beet. Agriculture takes about 92 percent of the country's water. Through Khatam al-Anbiya, the IRGC has been a principal actor in dam building, water transfer schemes and large infrastructure projects. Peripheral provinces such as Khuzestan, home to marginalized ethnic communities, have suffered disproportionately. Critics call the corps and its affiliated networks the "water mafia". In 2023 the Majlis Research Center itself acknowledged that the current water governance model does not fit the country's hydrological realities.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad joined the IRGC in 1985, serving first in Iraqi Kurdistan before taking charge of logistics. As president from 2005 to 2013, he filled a majority of his first cabinet with IRGC veterans. Ali Alfoneh counted nine of twenty-one ministry portfolios, a number he called unprecedented. Accounts of the 2004 parliamentary elections differ. One says nearly a third of the new Majlis members were Pasdaran, while the Council on Foreign Relations says the Guards won at least 16 percent of the 290 seats. In the March 2008 elections, IRGC veterans won 182 of 290 seats.
The 2009 presidential election marked a turning point. Thousands of Iranians protested the declared victory of Ahmadinejad over the well-liked reformer Mir-Hossein Mousavi, in what became the Green Movement. The Basij and Pasdaran helped crush it. A leaked video showed General Mohammad Ali Jafari warning that the protests were a blow that weakened the regime's pillars. Abbas Milani of Stanford argued the regime believed it would lose control, and that "without the IRGC he'd be out of a job in twenty-four hours", referring to Khamenei.
Not everyone agrees on how far the power runs. Milani believes the Guards' power exceeds that of the Supreme Leader. Mehdi Khalaji of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy calls the corps "the spine of the current political structure" and likens Iran to a garrison state, like Burma. Frederic Wehrey of the RAND Corporation sees a factionalized institution, not a cohesive bloc bent on overthrowing its masters. Khalaji also described how Khamenei micromanaged the system: "He knows every low-ranking commander and even the names of their children." Reuters in 2026 described the IRGC as a "state-within-a-state", and during the 2026 Iran war its commander Ahmad Vahidi insisted the corps must decide all critical leadership positions.
Khomeini himself urged that the armed forces stay out of politics, yet Article 150 calls the corps the "guardian of the Revolution and of its achievements", which is at least partly a political mission. President Rafsanjani forced professionalization on the corps to curb its political role. Yahya Rahim Safavi, head of the corps since 1997, was dismissed in August 2007. The Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran, or Abadgaran, is widely viewed as the Guards' political front.
Imam Hossein University is the corps' primary academic and training center. Its programs pair military instruction with lectures on Islamic theology and political doctrine, aimed at reinforcing loyalty to the doctrine of wilayat al-faqih, the Guardianship of the Jurist. Conferences there have addressed themes such as the "decline of the United States". Scholars generally describe this engagement as aimed at ideological formation, not independent inquiry.
During the Iran-Iraq War, contemporary reports said as much as "90 percent" of the corps' non-combat work went into cultural activities. Internal reports from the early 1980s describe over 2,400 libraries, around 629,102 donated books, 482,000 more distributed nationwide, and around 440,000 publications excluding political journals. Units held 4,049 film screenings and produced 85 theatrical performances. They distributed nearly 60,000 audio cassettes, including 6,000 Qur'an excerpts. The most widely circulated, in 21,000 copies, carried sermons by Ayatollah Morteza Motahhari. Today the corps runs a media arm called Sepah News, and its commercial media holdings include the Owj Arts and Media Organization and the Tasnim news agency.
The US Department of the Treasury claims the corps has supported groups the United States deems terrorist, including Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the PFLP-GC and the Taliban. It named four senior officials: Hushang Alladad, Hossein Musavi, Hasan Mortezavi and Mohammad Reza Zahedi. Zahedi, the IRGC commander in Lebanon, was said to have served as a liaison to Hezbollah and Syrian intelligence. Other accusations include smuggling alcohol, cigarettes and satellite dishes through jetties the government did not supervise.
In December 2009, a Guardian investigation linked the IRGC to the 2007 kidnapping of five Britons from a government ministry building in Baghdad. Three hostages were killed, Alan McMenemy's body was never found, and Peter Moore was released on the 30th of December 2009. Moore, a computer expert, was reportedly targeted because he was installing a system that would show how international aid was diverted to Iran's militias in Iraq. In May 2019 the United States accused the corps of using limpet mines on four oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman. In April 2020, the corps unveiled the Mostaan 110, a device it claimed could detect COVID-19. Experts called it pseudoscientific and compared it to the fake bomb detector ADE 651.
Since the 15th of April 2019, the United States has classed the IRGC as a terrorist organization, reportedly over the objections of some top CIA and Pentagon officials. Turkey, Iraq and China criticized the decision. Iran's parliament responded when members wore IRGC uniforms in protest. Iran also declared the United States Central Command a terrorist organization. President Hassan Rouhani said the move would only increase the corps' popularity. In 2022, Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the IRGC probably the most designated organization in the world.
The United Nations has never designated the IRGC as terrorist. Resolution 1929 froze its assets until that measure was lifted in 2016. The European Union imposed broad sanctions in 2010 without a terrorist listing. Canada outlawed the Quds Force in 2012. On the 3rd of October 2022, after the death of Mahsa Amini, Canada sanctioned the IRGC, and four days later it permanently banned 10,000 members, the top half of the leadership. Canada designated the IRGC under its Criminal Code on the 19th of June 2024.
A wave followed. Paraguay designated the corps on the 25th of April 2025, and Ecuador on the 16th of September 2025. On the 27th of November 2025, Australia listed the IRGC as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, the first entity ever so listed, with a penalty of 25 years of imprisonment for support. The European Union designated the corps on the 29th of January 2026, after the violent crackdown on the 2025-2026 protests. Ukraine followed on the 2nd of February 2026, citing Iranian support for Russia with Shahed drones.
On the 5th of March 2026, Lebanon banned the IRGC and said its members would face deportation. Argentina designated the corps on the 1st of April 2026, pointing to alleged links to Hezbollah, which it accuses of the 1992 embassy bombing in Buenos Aires that killed 29 and of the 1994 attack on a Jewish community center. Costa Rica followed on the 8th of April 2026, and Trinidad and Tobago on the 15th of April. On the 24th of April 2026, Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised in an interview with the Jewish Chronicle to proscribe the IRGC in the United Kingdom by July 2026.
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Common questions
What is the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps?
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is a multi-service primary force of the Iranian Armed Forces, known domestically as Sepah or Pasdaran. It has five branches: Ground Forces, Aerospace Force, Navy, Quds Force and Basij. Its commander-in-chief is appointed by and reports to the Supreme Leader of Iran.
When was the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps founded?
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was established by a decree of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini on the 5th of May 1979, after the Iranian Revolution. It was meant to merge several paramilitary forces into one body loyal to the new government and to balance the regular military.
What is the difference between the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Iranian Army?
The Artesh, Iran's regular army, protects the country's territorial integrity and sovereignty. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has a constitutional mandate to preserve the Revolution itself, and the two forces operate separately and in parallel under Article 150 of the Constitution.
What does the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps do?
The Quds Force is a special operations unit estimated at 2,000 to 5,000 members. It handles unconventional warfare, military intelligence and clandestine operations abroad, and its main mission is training, directing and liaising with pro-Iranian groups such as Hezbollah and the Houthis.
How much of Iran's economy does the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps control?
Estimates of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps share of Iran's economy range from ten percent to over 50 percent. The Los Angeles Times estimated ties to over one hundred companies with annual revenue above 12 billion dollars, and the corps' engineering arm is Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters.
Which countries have designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization?
The United States has designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as terrorist since 2019. Others include Canada in 2024, Paraguay and Ecuador in 2025, and the European Union on the 29th of January 2026. The United Nations has never made such a designation.
What was the Basij and why did Khomeini create it?
The Basij is a paramilitary volunteer militia founded by order of Khomeini in November 1979. On the 4th of November 1979, he called for an army of 20 million, saying everyone in an Islamic country should have military training. It serves as an auxiliary force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
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- 179NewsUK officials probe Iran generals' antisemitic talks to students22 January 2024
- 180Iranian President narrowly escapes assassination plot after his car is sabotagedFiona Leishman — 24 July 2024
- 183NewsU.S. officially designates Iran's Revolutionary Guards a terrorist groupMakini Brice — 15 April 2019
- 184NewsTrump Designates Iran's Revolutionary Guard a Foreign Terrorist GroupEdward Wong et al. — 8 April 2019
- 185NewsExit Polls Suggest No Clear Winner in Israeli ElectionIsabel Kershner et al. — 9 April 2019
- 192NewsSaudi, Bahrain add Iran's Revolutionary Guards to terrorism lists23 October 2018
- 193NewsU.S. Designates Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a Terror OrganizationRebecca Ballhaus — 8 April 2019
- 195Australia and the IRGC: Is a ban necessary?Naomi Levin — 9 April 2019
- 196NewsCanada slaps new sanctions on Iran over death of Mahsa Amini3 October 2022
- 197NewsCanada bans more than 10K Iran Revolutionary Guard members from entering country7 October 2022
- 198NewsCanada to ban Iran's IRGC leaders from entry, expand sanctions7 October 2022
- 201NewsIran's Revolutionary Guards set to be labelled as terrorist group by UK3 January 2023
- 202PV-9-2023-01-18-RCV_FREuropean Parliament — 18 January 2022
- 205NewsAustralia expels Iranian ambassador after ASIO says it directed antisemitic attacks26 August 2025
- 206Ecuador Labels IRGC as "Terrorist Organization"16 September 2025
- 209Argentina designates Iran's IRGC Quds Force as terrorist group17 January 2026
- 210European Parliament condemns Iran's crackdown on protesters22 January 2026
- 213NewsBritain to ban IRGCCharles Hymas — 29 January 2026
- 214NewsUkraine to list Iran's IRGC as terror group, following EU lead, says Sa'arLazar Berman — 2 February 2026
- 220Costa Rica names IRGC, Hezbollah, Hamas, Houthis as terror groupsJames Genn — 2026-04-09
- 222NewsStarmer pledges to bring forward law proscribing Iran’s Revolutionary GuardsAlexandra Topping — April 24, 2026
- 225The Revolutionary Guards Are Ready to Strike BackColin Clarke — 11 April 2019
- 226Iran Labels U.S. Central Command a Terrorist OrganizationAresu Eqbali — 8 April 2019
- 227Act of Terror: Information on Islamic Revolutionary Guard CorpsRewards for Justice
- 231NewsIran Summons Italian Envoy to Protest Canada's Listing of IRGC as Terrorist20 June 2024
- 232NewsIran summons Italy envoy over Canada sanctions21 June 2024
- 233JournalThe Revolutionary Guards' Role in Iranian PoliticsAli Alfoneh — Fall 2008