The Guards run the show in Iran

They have a hand in the nuclear program, attacks in Iraq, and politics.

By Abbas William Samii

from the October 5, 2007 edition

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Alexandria, VA. - In recent weeks, as Washington ratcheted up pressure to designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, officials throughout Iran sprang to its defense. The sermon by Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati last month was typical. The corps "is not separate from the people," Mr. Jannati told the congregation. "Are you introducing the 70 million people living in this country as terrorists?"

This public embrace makes devising effective sanctions against the corps problematic. Still, the United States must find a way to contain the Guards – they help run Iran's nuclear program, have a hand in killing US soldiers in Iraq, and are playing an increasingly prominent role in Iranian politics.

The corps was created shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution because the loyalty of the conventional armed forces was in doubt – the officers were suspected of harboring monarchist sympathies, and those who had undergone training in the US or Europe were viewed as potential foreign agents.

The result was two parallel military institutions with distinct responsibilities. The corps is responsible for protecting "the revolution and its achievements," according to Iran's constitution, whereas the conventional military is tasked with protecting the country's independence and territorial integrity.

Roughly one year after the corps's creation, Iraq's president Saddam Hussein launched a war against Iran that would last eight years and cost hundreds of thousands of lives. The early corps cadres earned public respect with their abundant courage and enthusiasm and the regime glorified their actions even more.

The corps still has the traditional responsibilities of a military force. It has roughly 120,000 men in uniform and a much larger reserve called the Basij, and its leaders boast about observing US military tactics in Afghanistan and Iraq and being ready to counter these with asymmetric warfare. The corps also has a naval branch – it captured British sailors in March – and an air force.

The corps' unconventional warfare function is performed by its Quds Force. This entity is involved with the insurgency in Iraq, and in 2002 the US accused it of fighting in Afghanistan. The corps was instrumental in the creation of Hizbullah in Lebanon in the 1980s, and its personnel were in Bosnia in the 1990s.

What has changed about the corps is its political role. It now has the characteristics of what political scientists call a praetorian force, wherein higher-ranking officers participate in political affairs, sometimes at the behest of civil authorities. Praetorians also reveal a mistrust of civilian leaders. An examination of statements by Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Aziz-Jafari, who was chosen as the new head of the Guards on Sept. 1, illustrates these points. In 1999, as Iranian students staged mass demonstrations, Mr. Jafari was one of 24 corps commanders who, in an open letter to President Mohammad Khatami, warned they would take matters into their own hands if he did not act.

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