Iran’s Revolutionary Guards … expansionist Iranian regime’s arm in the region

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards … expansionist Iranian regime’s arm in the region

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The announcement  of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards  about a test of  several ballistic missiles  raised questions about the future of the development   of the Iranian  weapons after the nuclear  agreement concluded by the Iranian regime with the major powers last July?  And with regards   the US response, US officials  made a statement  several  days ago that their management  is looking  for  a proposal  that may lead to the classification of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard  as a terrorist group. This means in the event of  the implementation of  the proposal  , the Iranian- US relations will witness a qualitative shift in the nature of the tension between them, because this time not merely to  impose economic sanctions on institutions or persons in the Iranian regime, but terrorism characterization  for  an  official  Iranian  military institution  like the Iranian  revolutionary guards  , which is one of the pillars of the Iranian regime internally and externally and is directly related to Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader (Murshed).  If the proposal is implemented  , it will mean   that Donald Trump has  announced  about  his future directions towards the Iranian regime, so  he  tends to counter Iran’s influence and cordon off it  in the Arab East, especially in Iraq and Syria. In this context, we wonder what is the Iranian Revolutionary Guard?

– Revolutionary Guards in Persian  language  (Pasdaran) – Ideological army and Guards loyal to the Supreme Leader of the Iranian republic, although it is not organizationally part of the Iranian armed forces, but has an independent command  that  receive its orders directly from Khamenei . Revolutionary  Guards appeared in  5 / May 1979 after the victory of the Iranian revolution and the overthrow of the Shah’s regime, through a decree of the leader of the revolution of Imam Ayatollah Khomeini, and put under the command of Supreme Leader directly. The main objective of the establishment of such a force to collect the various military forces that emerged after the revolution in a single structure loyal to the regime for the protection   it and make  a balance with the traditional army, which did not participate in the revolution, some of his officers remained faithful to the rule of the Shah. The phase of the Iran-Iraq war during the eighties of the last century, an opportunity, to strengthen the position of the guard and strengthen its roles in the military and political equations, and  it is described as a state within a state. since then , the revolutionary Guards  has become a  large military , political and economic power  in the country  of  the Islamic revolution , and enjoys  of   special relationship  with many influential figures , most notably  the former President Ahmadinejad , who was himself a member of the Revolutionary  Guards .

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards consists of , according to the estimations of   International Institute for Strategic Studies  in London ,   3500 thousand element, while the Institute of Strategic and International Studies in Washington, believes that the number of its members does not exceed 12 000 thousand. In addition to the naval  and air units , and it has the supervision authority  on Iran’s strategic weapons . And the Iranian Revolutionary Guard  has a defensive deterrent capabilities, such as missile systems that  can carry cluster warheads ,  can throw a small bomb at the 1400 goal, and  the officials of it made a statements   that it has  thousands of  trained soldiers to carry out suicide operations . And the Iranian Revolutionary   Guard has developed its  military  capabilities in the past decades, remarkably , in addition  to several military  exercises where it  performs   them  from time to time  a long the year , and the organizers  in charge of    this machine   had developed  many weapons   especially with regard  to industry  of  drones and missiles , including the Shahab missile   1,2 and 3 as well as air defense systems and  electronic  warfare  and also    the Guard  controlled the paramilitary   resistance forces (Basij), a volunteer force  consists of   about 90 thousand men and women , and has the ability to mobilize about million volunteers when necessary.

Observers believe that the biggest proof of the influence of the Revolutionary Guards in the body of the state is  the arrival of one of its members to the Presidency of the Islamic Republic, a former Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Where  Ahmadinejad  has appointed  when elected five ministers in his government of the Revolutionary Guards, as well as the fact that dozens of deputies in the parliament are  former members of the Guard. Many of the cadres of the guard entered  into the sensitive joints of the  state, and most notably the secretary of the Supreme  Council for national security , Ali Aridjaniorias , and Tehran mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf (former chief of the police ), and a number of them became active in the construction and oil sectors.

Economically  the Revolutionary Guards also dominated  on about a third of the Iranian economy, and through extending his influence on a number of charitable foundations and trusts and subsidiary companies. Where it was engaged in many economic projects, worth to billions of dollars in oil and gas and infrastructure fields, and  a huge financial and investment institutions linked to it inside Iran, including several productivity and service  sectors, including construction, roads, oil and telecommunications.

As for the external role Although the number of elements of the Revolutionary Guards least number of regular army troops, but the Guard is the dominant military force in Iran, which is behind many of the major military operations in the country and abroad. The general commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, General Mohammad Ali Jafari, played a major role in the implementation of policies of  Ayatollah Ali Khamenei abroad. Quds Force   belongs to the Revolutionary Guards , which is the military wing which  is carrying out   a private operations out of bounds, and  its forces are estimated  by about 50 thousand element, working under the leadership of Qassem Soleimani who was promoted to the rank of Major General in 2011, the highest rank in the Revolutionary Guards, and  Soleimani is considered  the  planner for two major initiatives in Iran’s foreign policy, namely: the exercise and the expansion of Tehran’s influence in the internal political affairs of Iraq, and to provide military support to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

Last year, General Commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari  disclosed of  the presence of about 2,000 thousand fighters linked to the Revolutionary Guards present in a number of countries in the region, shedding  more light on the Iranian involvement in   the going on  wars in it , while sources of the follow-up to the Iranian affair revealed that the losses of  Iran  of   men  increased in Syria.  Iran’s Revolutionary Guards commander Mohammad Ali Jafari stressed of  the readiness of some 200 thousand fighters in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan and Pakistan, saying that the changes in the Middle East in recent years are «positive», as reported by the government agency Mehr. Jafari added that  he looked forward to «encourage» the third generation of «revolution» to support « velye al-Faqih » and Islamic Republic in Iran, pointing to the importance of the presence of  Iranian youth  in Syria, Iraq, Yemen battles. Jafari was speaking at the funeral ceremony of the leader of the Revolutionary Guards «Hamid Reza Ossadollhe» who was killed at the end of  December in Aleppo .

In  the current February 14  , Ali reza Jafar zadeh  held   ,A deputy of Representation of the National Council of Resistance of Iran,  a conference, in the US  in which he revealed about  the  foreign training centers for   militias of the forces of the Iranian Guards managed by the Quds Brigade and spread in different parts of Iran, where  they train elements of sectarian militias from  Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan.

According to the press conference, “MKO”   , the founding  Organization of the National Council of Resistance of Iran has obtained, from sources inside Iran About  details of camps and rules  of training  most notably is  Training Directorate in the Qods Force  in the  barracks (Imam Ali), located in the Kilo 20 Highway Tehran – Karaj – Boulevard (Ardstana) at the end of the street (Saravan) and  there are several barracks of the Revolutionary guards in the site . These barrack is  located within a large group in the southeast section, and an area of ​​approximately 100 thousand square meters (350 to 330 meters). There is another section of this group called the barracks of “Mustafa Khomeini,” a special section of the logistics for the barracks (Imam Ali) and has a separate gate for entry and exit. The Iranian Resistance spotted so far 14 training centers in this directorate, according to a press conference.

The press conference has referred to that the units of the Qods Force have been trained at a separate and confidential units on terrorist acts  then are distributed according to countries in the northern Gulf, Asia or Africa or Latin America. Elements who are receiving terrorist training are isolated individually  and in isolated locations. They are in a private residential units inside the barracks (Imam Ali) to accommodate the numbers of between 10 and 100 people.

During the past few years,  the Quds Force  entered a number of mercenaries from Latin America, including Venezuela, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia to receive such training courses in the barracks (Imam Ali). Regarding these individuals ,  a  maximum secrecy  was applied fully   and  these individuals were isolated from the others and their attendance was strictly confidential. Commander of the training for these elements is Colonel Tahmasbi.

It is believed that the Revolutionary Guard retains elements of it in the Iranian embassies across the world, it is said that these elements are carrying out intelligence operations, and establish training camps, and contribute to providing support for Iran’s allies abroad, such as the government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, and the Lebanese   Hezbollah . Guard has a strong and active presence in civilian institutions and bodies, it controls the Basij, who are loyal to the revolution, as called by the guard to  go to the streets in times of crisis, so as to use force to disperse the protesters or defectors. Those immense popular power enjoyed by the guard, in addition to the strong support given by his supreme leader, it made him a key player in Iranian politics.

In  the current  February 16,  US president , Donald Trump described the Iranian regime as ” the first sponsor of terrorism in the world,” It is clear that  his  tool of  terrorism , especially in the Arab Mashreq is the revolutionary guard and the subsequent military formations,   the question that arises in this context: is  he  really working    in the elimination of terrorism , which threatens the security and stability of the Levant? Or that political realism and the language of the vital interests will make  the terrorism  in some day   the  gardens  of flowers  ?!

Iranian Studies Unit

Translated by : Mudhaffar al-Kusairi

Rawabet Center for  Research and Strategic Studies