Back Islamitiese Revolusionêre Wagkorps Afrikaans الحرس الثوري الإيراني Arabic الحرس الثورى الايرانى ARZ İslam İnqilabı Keşikçiləri Korpusu Azerbaijani ایسلامی اینقیلاب گؤزتچیلر اوردوسو AZB Корпус Вартавых Ісламскай рэвалюцыі Byelorussian Вартавыя ісламскай рэвалюцыі BE-TARASK Революционна гвардия (Иран) Bulgarian ইসলামি বিপ্লবী রক্ষীবাহিনী Bengali/Bangla Korpus islamske revolucionarne garde BS

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

"IRGC" redirects here. For other uses, see IRGC (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with the Libyan Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی
Seal of IRGC
Official flag (left) and ceremonial flag (right)
MottoHeraldic slogan:
وَأَعِدُّوا لَهُمْ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ مِنْ قُوَّةٍ (Arabic)
"Prepare against them what you 'believers' can of 'military' power." Quran 8:60
Founded5 May 1979 (1979-05-05) (established)[1][2]
Ideology
Service branches
  1.  Ground Forces
  2.  Aerospace Force
  3.  Navy
  4. Quds Force
  5. Basij
HeadquartersTehran, Iran
Websitesepahnews.ir
Leadership
Commander-in-ChiefMohammad Pakpour[5]
Deputy Commander-in-ChiefCdre Ali Fadavi
Personnel
Conscription≈50,000 (2019), recruited mostly from active members of Basij[6]
Active personnel≈125,000 (2024)[7][8]
Expenditure
Budget$6.96 billion (2020)[9]
Related articles
History
RanksRank insignia of the Iranian military
Designated as a terrorist group by

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC),[a] also known as the Iranian Revolutionary Guards,[17] is a multi-service primary branch of the Iranian Armed Forces. It was officially established by Ruhollah Khomeini as a military branch in May 1979 in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution.[1][18] Whereas the Iranian Army protects the country's sovereignty in a traditional capacity, the IRGC's constitutional mandate is to ensure the integrity of the Islamic Republic.[19] 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.[20]

As of 2024, the IRGC had approximately 125,000 total personnel. The IRGC Navy is now Iran's primary force exercising operational control over the Persian Gulf,[21] serving as a de facto coast guard. The IRGC's Basij, a paramilitary volunteer militia, has a further approximately 90,000 active personnel.[22][23] It operates a media arm, known as "Sepah News" within Iran.[24] On 16 March 2022, it adopted a new independent branch called the "Command for the Protection and Security of Nuclear Centres" involved with Iran's nuclear program.[25] Currently, the IRGC is designated as a terrorist organization by Bahrain, Canada, Paraguay, Saudi Arabia, Sweden and the United States.[26][27][28]

Originating as an 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".[29] In 2019, Reuters described it as "an industrial empire with political clout".[30] 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.[31][32][33][34]

From 2019 to 2025, Hossein Salami served as the IRGC's incumbent commander-in-chief.[35][30] He was killed along with numerous senior officers during the wave of Israeli strikes launched on 13 June 2025.[36]

  1. ^ a b Abedin, Mahan (2011). "Iran's Revolutionary Guards: Ideological But Not Praetorian". Strategic Analysis. 35 (3): 381–385. doi:10.1080/09700161.2011.559965. S2CID 153976967.
  2. ^ "Timeline of Military and Security Events". United States Institute of Peace. 10 August 2021. Archived from the original on 5 September 2019. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  3. ^ a b Nick Pay, Vahid; and Omond, Andrew (2 January 2023). "Military Ideology and Foreign Policy: A Constructivist Examination of the IRGC'S Ideological Influence". Asian Affairs. 54 (1): 18–43. doi:10.1080/03068374.2023.2174687. ISSN 0306-8374. These efforts flow from Article 11 of the IRGC's 1982 statute, which expressly requires the organisation to train and educate its members according to Islamic teachings and to promote the Khomeinist constitutional principle of velayat-e faqīh (Guardianship of the Jurist) in ideological, political, and military domains
  4. ^ Shah, Sikander Ahmed (30 April 2024). Federalist Solutions to Pakistan's Political Crises. Lexington Books. p. 170. ISBN 978-1-6669-5546-0. Iran, already an Islamic Republic, leveraged the Shi'a Islamist Ideology to gain support and recruitment from within and beyond Iran, with a specific view towards defending against threats—real or perceived—to the Shi'a Muslim identity, and to further a revolutionary Shi'a Islamist ideology. Iran's military, specifically the IRGC, is unique in the sense of not only using sectarian differences to effect its political will domestically, but also to further its ideology beyond its national borders, garnering support and traction from Shi'a political pockets across the region.
  5. ^ "By EXECUTIVE ORDER OF THE SUPREME LEADER, Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi has been appointed as TEMPORARY COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE IRGC". X (formerly Twitter). Retrieved 13 June 2025.
  6. ^ Golkar, Saeid (February 2019), The Supreme Leader and the Guard: Civil-Military Relations and Regime Survival in Iran (PDF) (Policy Watch), The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, p. 3, archived from the original (PDF) on 29 November 2020, retrieved 23 August 2020
  7. ^ "Iran's Revolutionary Guards: powerful group with wide regional reach". Reuters. 13 April 2024.
  8. ^ The International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) (2020). "Middle East and North Africa". The Military Balance 2020. Vol. 120. Routledge. pp. 348–352. doi:10.1080/04597222.2020.1707968. ISBN 978-0-367-46639-8. S2CID 219624897.
  9. ^ Rome, Henry (17 June 2020), "Iran's Defense Spending", The Iran Primer, The United States Institute for Peace, archived from the original on 22 June 2021, retrieved 23 August 2020
  10. ^ "Bahrain Terrorist List (individuals – entities)". Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Bahrain. Archived from the original on 17 October 2020. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  11. ^ "Currently listed entities". Public Safety Canada. Government of Canada. 21 December 2018. Archived from the original on 1 March 2020. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference upi.com was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ "Saudi, Bahrain add Iran's Revolutionary Guards to terrorism lists". Reuters. 23 October 2018. Archived from the original on 8 April 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  14. ^ "Swedish Parliament Votes To Designate Iran's IRGC As Terrorist". Iran International. 7 June 2023. Archived from the original on 15 May 2023. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
  15. ^ "Treasury Designates the IRGC under Terrorism Authority and Targets IRGC and Military Supporters under Counter-Proliferation Authority". treasury.gov. Archived from the original on 15 June 2019. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  16. ^ "Designation of Terrorist Organizations" (PDF). NBCTF. Retrieved 27 June 2025.
  17. ^
  18. ^ IISS Military Balance 2006, Routledge for the IISS, London, 2006, p. 187
  19. ^ "Profile: Iran's Revolutionary Guards" Archived 27 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine. BBC News. 18 October 2009.
  20. ^ Morris M Mottale. "The birth of a new class – Focus". Al Jazeera English. Archived from the original on 7 June 2015. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  21. ^ "The Consequences of a Strike on Iran: The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy" GlobalBearings.net, 15 December 2011.
  22. ^ Abrahamian, Ervand, History of Modern Iran, Columbia University Press, 2008 pp. 175–76
  23. ^ Aryan, Hossein (5 February 2009). "Iran's Basij Force – The Mainstay of Domestic Security. 15 January 2009". RFERL. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Archived from the original on 10 January 2012. Retrieved 25 December 2011.
  24. ^ "Picture imperfect" Archived 12 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine 9 March 2013 The Economist
  25. ^ "برای حفاظت از تاسیسات هسته‌ای ایران، 'فرماندهی سپاه هسته‌ای' تشکیل شده است" [In order to protect Iran's nuclear facilities, the "Nuclear Corps Command" has been established]. 15 March 2022. Archived from the original on 16 March 2022. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  26. ^ Nicole Gaouette (8 April 2019). "Trump designates elite Iranian military force as a terrorist organization". CNN. Archived from the original on 14 May 2019. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  27. ^ "Saudi, Bahrain add Iran's IRGC to terror lists – SPA". euronews. 23 October 2018. Archived from the original on 10 May 2019. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  28. ^ Yousif, Nadine (19 June 2024). "Canada lists Iran's Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group". BBC News. Archived from the original on 21 June 2024. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  29. ^ Gregory, Mark (26 July 2010). "Expanding business empire of Iran's Revolutionary Guards". BBC News. BBC News.
  30. ^ a b Hafezi, Parisa (21 April 2019). "Khamenei names new chief for Iran's Revolutionary Guards". Reuters. Archived from the original on 30 July 2019. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  31. ^ Cite error: The named reference NYT20090721 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  32. ^ "Arrests at new Iranian protests". BBC News. 21 July 2009. Archived from the original on 22 July 2009. Retrieved 21 July 2009.
  33. ^ "Crisis as Opportunity for the IRGC". Stratfor. 27 July 2009. Archived from the original on 5 August 2009. Retrieved 1 August 2009.
  34. ^ Abdo, Geneive (7 October 2009). "The Rise of the Iranian Dictatorship". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 11 October 2009. Retrieved 13 October 2009.
  35. ^ Gladstone, Rick (21 April 2019). "Iran's Supreme Leader Replaces Head of Revolutionary Guards". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 22 April 2019. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  36. ^ "مرگ سردار سلامی و تنی چند از فرماندهان سپاه". ایرنا (in Persian). 13 June 2025. Retrieved 13 June 2025.


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