The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), also known as Sepah, Pasdaran, and Iranian Revolutionary Guards,Multiple sources:
is a multi-service military force of Iran and one of Iran's two military forces, the other being the Islamic Republic of Iran Army. It consists of five service branches: Ground Forces, Aerospace Force, Navy, Quds Force, and Basij. It is led by a commander-in-chief, who is appointed by and reports to the supreme leader of Iran.
The IRGC was officially established by Ruhollah Khomeini as a military branch in May 1979 in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution. Whereas the Iranian Army (the Artesh) protects the country's sovereignty in a traditional capacity, the IRGC's constitutional mandate is to ensure the integrity of the Islamic Republic."Profile: Iran's Revolutionary Guards" . BBC News. 18 October 2009. Most interpretations of this mandate assert that it entrusts the IRGC with preventing foreign interference in Iran, thwarting coups by the traditional military, and crushing "deviant movements" that harm the ideological legacy of the Islamic Revolution.
The IRGC has approximately 125,000 personnel, . The main body is the IRGC Ground Forces, which focus on maintaining internal order, but have recently moved towards expeditionary warfare also, projecting power for the Islamic Republic. The IRGC Navy is now Iran's primary force exercising operational control over the Persian Gulf,"The Consequences of a Strike on Iran: The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy" GlobalBearings.net, 15 December 2011. serving as a de facto coast guard. The IRGC Aerospace Force is responsible for the Iranian ballistic missile program and act as the country's space force. The Basij, a paramilitary volunteer militia that serves as the IRGC's auxiliaries, has a further approximately 90,000 active personnel.Abrahamian, Ervand, History of Modern Iran, Columbia University Press, 2008 pp. 175–76 Lastly, the Quds Force is a unit specialized in unconventional warfare, military intelligence and clandestine operations, responsible for arming, training, advising and, in some cases, commanding pro-Iranian non-state actors abroad—such as Hezbollah and the Houthis. It operates a media arm, known as "Sepah News" within Iran."Picture imperfect" 9 March 2013 The Economist Currently, the IRGC is designated as a terrorist organization by Albania, Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, the European Union, Honduras, Iceland, Israel, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Paraguay, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Sweden, Trinidad and Tobago, Ukraine, and the United States.
Originating as a radical ideological militia, the IRGC has taken on a growing role in nearly every aspect of Iranian politics, economics (including energy and food industries) and society. In 2010, BBC News described the organization as a "business empire". In 2019, Reuters described it as "an industrial empire with political clout". IRGC's expanded social, political, military, and economic role under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad—especially during the 2009 presidential election and the suppression of post-election protests—has led many Western analysts to argue that it has surpassed even the country's ruling clerical class in terms of political power. In 2026, Reuters described the IRGC as a "state-within-a-state".
Terminology Government organizations in Iran are commonly known by one-word names that denote their function, rather than acronyms or shortened versions. The general public refers to the IRGC as Sepâh (; Sepoy; Sipahi). Sepâh has a historical connotation of soldiers, while in modern Persian it also describes a corps-sized unit. In modern Persian, Artesh () is the more standard term for an army.
Pâsdârân () is the plural form of Pâsdâr (), meaning "Guardian", and members of Sepah are known as Pāsdār, which is also their title and comes after their rank.
Apart from the name Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Iranian Government, media, and those who identify with the organization generally use Sepāh-e Pâsdârân (Army of the Guardians), although it is not uncommon to hear Pâsdârân-e Enghelâb (; Guardians of the Revolution), or simply Pâsdârân (; Guardians) as well. Among the Iranian population, and especially among diaspora Iranians, using the word Pasdaran indicates hatred or admiration for the organization.
Most foreign governments and the English-speaking mass media tend to use the term Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRG) or simply the Revolutionary Guards. In the US media, the force is frequently referred to interchangeably as the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The US government standard is Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, while the United Nations uses Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
In the emblem of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the sentence above the weapon consists of a segment of the Quranic verse from Surah Al-Anfal —وَأَعِدُّوا لَهُمْ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ مِنْ قُوَّةٍ—which, according to the translation by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, reads: "Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power."
Organization
The force's main role is to provide national security. It is responsible for internal and border security, law enforcement, and Iran's missile forces. IRGC operations are geared towards asymmetric warfare and less traditional duties. These include the control of smuggling, control of the Strait of Hormuz, and resistance operations. (extract). The IRGC is intended to complement the more traditional role of the regular Iranian military, with the two forces operating separately and focusing on different operational roles.
The IRGC is a combined arms force with its own ground forces, navy, air force, intelligence, and special forces. It also controls the Basij militia, a volunteer-based force with 90,000 regular soldiers and 300,000 reservists. The IRGC is officially recognized as a component of the Iranian military under Article 150 of the Iranian Constitution. It is separate from, and parallel to, the other arm of Iran's military, which is called Artesh (another Persian word for an army). The IRGC is expected to assume control of any Iranian response, especially in the waters of the Persian Gulf, to attacks on its nuclear facilities.
History and structure The IRGC was formed on 5 May 1979 by Abbas Duzduzani following the Iranian Revolution of 1979 in an effort to consolidate several paramilitary forces into a single force loyal to the new government and to function as a counter to the influence and power of the regular military, initially seen as a potential source of opposition because of its traditional loyalty to the Shah.IISS Military Balance 2006, Routledge for the IISS, London, 2006, p. 187 From the beginning of the new Islamic government, the Pasdaran (Pasdaran-e Enghelab-e Islami) functioned as a corps of the faithful. The Constitution of the Islamic Republic entrusted the defense of Iran's territorial integrity and political independence to the regular military (artesh), while it gave the Pasdaran the responsibility of preserving the Revolution itself.
Days after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's return to Tehran on 1 February 1979, Mehdi Bazargan's interim administration established the Pasdaran under a decree issued by Khomeini on 5 May. The Pasdaran was intended to protect the Revolution and its principles, and to assist the ruling clerics in the day-to-day enforcement of the new government's Islamic codes and morality. There were other, perhaps more important, reasons for establishing the Pasdaran. The Revolution needed to rely on a force of its own rather than borrowing the previous regime's tainted units. As one of the first revolutionary institutions, the Pasdaran helped legitimize the Revolution and gave the new government an armed basis of support. Moreover, the establishment of the Pasdaran served notice to both the population and the regular armed forces that the Khomeini government was quickly developing its own enforcement body.
Thus, the Pasdaran, along with its political counterpart, Crusade for Reconstruction, brought a new order to Iran. In time, the Pasdaran would rival the police and the judiciary in terms of its functions.
Although the IRGC operated independently of the regular armed forces, it was often considered to be a military force in its own right due to its important role in Iranian defense. The IRGC consists of ground, naval, and aviation troops, which parallel the structure of the regular military. The Pasdaran was "given control of Iran's ballistic missile program in both missile employment and development.
Also contained under the umbrella of the more conventional Pasdaran, were the Basij Forces (Mobilization Resistance Force), a network of potentially up to a million active individuals who could be called upon in times of need. The Basij could be called to assist in the defense of the country against internal or external threats, but by 2008 was also deployed in mobilizing voters in elections. Another element was the Quds Force, a special forces element tasked with unconventional warfare roles and known to be involved in providing assistance and training to various militant organizations around the world.
The Pasdaran was closely associated with Supreme Leader Khamenei during his tenure from 1989 to his death in 2026. Khamenei used the Pasdaran to build support using expropriated state resources. Reportedly he reached "far down into the ranks and appointed new colonels and brigadiers. 'Khamenei micromanages the whole system, so everyone is loyal to him, He is hyperactive. He knows every low-ranking commander and even the names of their children'", according to Mehdi Khalaji of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
The Basij and Pasdaran were instrumental in crushing the Green Movement, and this gave them political supremacy in Iran. According to at least one source (Abbas Milani, the director of the Iranian Studies program at Stanford), the regime "clearly... believed it was going to lose control, and the IRGC and the Basij saved the day. The result is that the IRGC now has the upper hand. Khamenei knows that without the IRGC he'd be out of a job in twenty-four hours."
Yahya Rahim Safavi, head of the IRGC since 1997, was dismissed as commander in chief of the Revolutionary Guards in August 2007. The dismissal of Safavi disrupted the balance of power in Iran to the advantage of conservatives. Analysis in the international press considered the removal of Safavi to be a sign of change in the defense strategies of Iran, but the general policies of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps are not personally determined by its commander.
The Corps have occasionally distributed food aid packages.
On 16 March 2022, it established a new independent branch called the "Command for the Protection and Security of Nuclear Centres" involved with Iran's nuclear program.
Military structure
In late July 2008, reports originating that the IRGC was in the process of dramatically changing its structure. In a shake-up, in September 2008 Iran's Revolutionary Guards established 31 divisions and an autonomous missile command. The new structure changes the IRGC from a centralized to a decentralized force with 31 provincial corps, whose commanders wield extensive authority and power. According to the plan, each of Iran's thirty provinces will have a provincial corps, except Tehran Province, which will have two.
Cyber Security Command of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
In 2007 command for cyber security was established part of cyberdefense of IRGC. It was renamed in 2014, abbreviated GCDC or CIOC. Advanced Persistent Threat 34
Joint Staff
Basij
Basij Mustazafin were initially separate organizations but were merged in 1980 into Corps and merged to its land forces since 2008.