Explainer: What is Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps?

The state-backed military force accused of orchestrating targeted firebombing attacks against Australia’s Jewish community has a history of violent terrorism against the West including a foiled assassination plot against US President Donald Trump.

The feared and powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has long been used as a proxy by Iranian head of state, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to target enemies of his regime and undermine global security.

Established in 1979 following the Iranian revolution, the rise of the IRGC was overseen by Khamenei as then deputy defence minister before being elected president of the Islamic Republic in 1982.

MILITARY STRENGTH

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps serves as a branch of the Iranian Armed Forces and is responsible for carrying out the foreign policy objectives of Khamenei and projecting regional influence.

It’s believed the IRGC comprises of about 200,000 active military personnel, and a further 450,000 reserves, known as Basij, and the country’s ballistic missile and nuclear programmes.

It comprises of several units covering ground forces, the navy, aerospace and the notorious Qods Force.

THE QODS FORCE AND GLOBAL TERROR

The FBI in November foiled a plot by the IRGC to use a US-based criminal network to assassinate then President-Elect Donald Trump and an American journalist.

“The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — a designated foreign terrorist organisation — has been conspiring with criminals and hit-men to target and gun down Americans on US soil,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said at the time.

“Their deadly schemes were disrupted. We’re committed to using the full resources of the FBI to protect our citizens from Iran or any other adversary.”

The IRGC unit Qods Force (IRGC-QF) is the Iranian regime’s military arm for cultivating terrorist groups across the globe and providing funding, weaponry and training.

In 2021, it provided support to terrorist groups Kata’ib Hizballah (KH), Harakat al-Nujaba, and Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, which went on to target US and coalition forces in Iraq with more than two dozen rocket and air attacks.

In 2011, the Qods Force was involved in a foiled assassination attempt of the Saudi Ambassador to the United States. It was also linked to a 2018 terrorist plot in Germany.

The unit is also linked to providing rockets, missiles, and small arms to Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon and Syria.

According to US intelligence, the IRGC was providing weapons and training to Hamas, Palestine Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command ahead of the 2021 attack from Gaza and the West Bank.

IRGC LEADERSHIP

The Gaza conflict and military success from Israel has delivered repeated blows to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s hand-picked leaders.

IRGC Commander-in-chief and loyal Khamenei confidant Hossein Salami was among several senior Iranian officials killed in Israeli airstrikes in June.

Salami had held the top role since 2019, having taken over from Mohammad Ali Jafari.

Salami had joined the Iranian military in the 1980s and was appointed commander of the IRGC Aerospace unit in 2005 where he oversaw ballistic missile and drone development.

IRGC Air Force Commander, Amir Ali Hajizadeh was also killed in June during Israeli airstrikes.

Khamenei has appointed Iranian interior minister, Ahmad Vahidi as interim commander of the IRGC following Salami’s death.

Vahidi has previously served as the commander of the IRGC Qods Force and is currently subject of an Interpol arrest warrant sought by Argentina over the 1994 attack on a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires.