OVERVIEW

IRGC flag

The IRGC is an armed force charged with defending Iran’s regime. The IRGC is composed of ground, naval, and air forces; an internal security militia (the Basij); and an external operations force, the IRGC–Qods Force (IRGC-QF).

The IRGC-QF is one of the Iranian regime’s primary organizations responsible for conducting covert lethal activities outside Iran, including asymmetric and terrorist operations. Iran views terrorism as a tool to deter and counter its perceived foes, assert leadership over Shia Muslims worldwide, and project power in the Middle East.

The IRGC-QF has plotted and conducted covert operations worldwide, and it provides guidance, training, funds, and weapons to partners and proxies, primarily Shia militants in the Middle East. These partners and proxies allow the IRGC-QF to maintain military capability in multiple theaters while having a pretense to deny involvement in operations.

OPERATING AREAS
Based in Iran; the IRGC-QF has conducted operations primarily in Iraq and Syria but also operates globally, including in the United States

MEMBERS
The IRGC has between 150,000 and 190,000 personnel. The IRGC-QF has between 5,000 and 15,000 personnel, handpicked from the broader IRGC for their allegiance to the regime.

TACTICS AND TARGETS
The IRGC-QF attacks US, Israeli, Saudi, and UAE targets, as well as Iranian dissident groups. The IRGC-QF uses its intelligence and military capabilities to support its own terrorist operations and those of its partners and proxies. IRGC elements also conspire with criminals in pursuit of some of their activities.

The IRGC has provided advanced military equipment to Lebanese Hizballah, including air defense systems, coastal defense cruise missiles, long-range rockets, and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). The IRGC also supplies Iraqi Shia militants with antiaircraft weapons, explosively formed projectiles, IEDs, rockets, rocket-propelled grenades, and UAS. The IRGC-QF has provided the Huthis in Yemen with advanced weapons and training, which the Huthis used throughout 2024 to attack commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

FOREIGN TERRORIST GROUP DESIGNATION
The United States designated the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) in April 2019. In October 2007, the United States designated the IRGC-QF as an FTO and applied the Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) designation to then–IRGC-QF Commander Qassim Soleimani and now-IRGC Commander-in-Chief Hosein Salami. The United States added current IRGC-QF Commander Esmail Ghani to the SDGT list in March 2012.

KEY LEADERS

NOTABLE ATTACK PLOTTING