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What kind of organization is Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps? Why does the United States hate him to the bone?

author:Hanjiang Pavilion Reading Chronicle

One

As mentioned last time, in order to defend the new regime established after the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty, Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, in addition to retaining the old army of the previous dynasty, formed the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which was directly subordinate to the Islamic Revolutionary Committee. The members of this new army were selected from the revolutionary masses with religious enthusiasm and strong political literacy, and supplemented by corresponding military training, and at first they were only used to defend the domestic political power and fight against the political opposition in the country and the separatist forces of ethnic minorities such as the Kurds.

As a result, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was relatively rudimentary in terms of weapons at the time. Some described them as "brothers to each other, dressed in colorful clothes, carrying German-made C3 submachine guns, and throwing in jail the remnants of their loyalty to the king." ”

If there are no other special circumstances, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps may continue to develop along the trajectory of the "Internal Guard Force", and its strength will not exceed that of Iran's Wehrmacht in a short period of time.

However, special circumstances soon arose. The invasion of Iran by the Saddam Regime in Iraq in 1980 threatened Iran's nascent regime and indirectly stimulated the growth of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. During the war with Iraq, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) evolved from a light-weapon army to a modern army with a navy, army, and air force, a basquiat militia directly under the Umbrella Officia, and a "Jerusalem Armed Forces" (the so-called "Quds Force") that went overseas, while also having its own military industrial system.

After 1987, the number of soldiers in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps even exceeded that of Iran's Wehrmacht, reaching a huge 275,000, compared with only about 220,000 iranian Wehrmacht at the same time.

What kind of organization is Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps? Why does the United States hate him to the bone?

In addition, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has established its own peripheral organization, the Basji. The establishment of the militia force is not only conducive to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to draw a stable source of troops from the civilian population, but also allows many Iranian township youths who cannot find jobs to see the opportunity to rise. They joined the Basqui militia of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps under the influence of martyr spirit and Islamic ideology, and many were sent to the front to fight the Iraqi army.

What kind of organization is Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps? Why does the United States hate him to the bone?

The entry of the Basij militia into the war has caused great shock to the Iraqi army, and it is difficult for them to imagine that the Iranian Basil militia will rush into the mine array with their flesh and blood and die with the mines, so as to clear the way for the attacking forces. Of course, the Iranian people's feelings of defending their homeland are on the one hand, but on the other hand, it also exposes the limitations of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps's understanding of modern warfare.

But then again, the sacrifice of the Basij militia was exchanged for the government's exceptional preferential treatment of their families. Whether it is the distribution of living supplies or university employment, the Iranian government has favored the families of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which in turn has consolidated the loyalty of the Iranian people to the new regime. Therefore, we can say that the Iran-Iraq War was the "second statehood" of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Two

After the end of the Iran-Iraq War in 1988, Iran's revolutionary leader Khomeini died in 1989, the year after the war ended, and Khamenei, who had served as president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, took over the leadership position, marking the dawn of a new era.

After entering the 1990s, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also faced a series of opportunities and challenges.

On the one hand, Iran has entered a rare period of peace, and it is in urgent need of saving strength to heal the wounds caused by the Iran-Iraq War, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is huge, the daily food consumption is very large, and the government cannot afford to support hundreds of thousands of troops, so it began to be demobilized in a planned way to reduce the economic burden. Many officers and men of the Revolutionary Guards were demobilized and returned to the fields, employed and studied under the arrangements of the government, or turned to politics and business to become the new social elite. For example, Ahmed Ahmad Ahmadinejad, who became Iran's president in 2005, served as the commander of special forces of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps during the Iran-Iraq War.

However, it should be noted that the "slimming" of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps does not represent a sharp reduction in military strength, on the contrary, the Revolutionary Guards after the Iran-Iraq War have gradually mastered more advanced missile technology and are also involved in the refining program of nuclear weapons enriching uranium, and the government still tries to ensure its needs in terms of appropriations.

On the other hand, in order to improve the financial tension, the government has not only downsized the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, but also encouraged it to devote itself to the economic field. In the 1990s, when Khamenei was the leader of the revolution and Rafsanjani was president, the engineering forces of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps undertook many national construction projects and actively invested in the lucrative oil and gas sector.

Ahmadinejad became president in 2005, and because of his deep ties to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Revolutionary Guard Corps received large orders for development projects in many countries and government subsidies, including oil and gas, telecommunications and infrastructure, involving the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its affiliated companies. "Ahmadinejad allowed investors affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards and The Barsky to preferentially qualify for the purchase of privatized state-owned enterprises and ordered banks to give them priority in providing loans and financial support." It is really "near the water tower platform first to get the moon, fat water does not flow to the outsider's field."

Some Iranian officials have been so arrogant that the Revolutionary Guards have frequently given the green light to draw economic resources, and have even openly sent troops to occupy the terminal of imam-Khomeini Airport, which is operated by a Turkish company, simply because they feel that the project should be controlled by their own subsidiaries. It's arrogant to the extreme.

Three

However, some Iranian political elites led by Iranian leader Khamenei are also vaguely aware that while the Revolutionary Guards are gaining strength, they have brought some negative effects to Iran's economic development, such as tax evasion and tax evasion by some enterprises closely related to the Revolutionary Guards, and even secretly engaging in power and money transactions with Iranian government officials and monopolizing market share. The Iranian government's reformists were dissatisfied with the Revolutionary Guards' interference in economic construction, and complained to Supreme Leader Khamenei.

All this made Khamenei have to intervene to curb the excessive expansion of the Revolutionary Guards, so after Ahmadinejad became president for two terms, Khamenei actively supported the reformist leader Rouhani to come to power, in order to cut off Ahmadinejad, the Umbrella of the Revolutionary Guards in the political circles, and by the way, to sound the alarm bell for the Revolutionary Guards, so that they should not be too arrogant.

What kind of organization is Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps? Why does the United States hate him to the bone?

(Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei)

In the new government headed by Rouhani, many officials in charge of the economy have been replaced by reformists, but areas related to national defense and security are still controlled by officials with a background in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The latter's presence has from time to time held back rouhani's government, giving it a lot of resistance to improving relations with the United States. Of course, these are the last words.

In fact, Khamenei is worried about far more than the expansion of the economic strength of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, he is more concerned about the impact of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Iran's domestic and foreign affairs. Although Khomeini's will clearly expressed opposition to the interference of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in politics, the provisions of the Iranian Constitution stipulating that the Revolutionary Guards "defend the Islamic regime and defend the right to launch jihad" have left room for the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to intervene in politics. And the Intervention of the Revolutionary Guards in Politics will never stop at the theoretical level, but will also be expressed in practical action. Ahmadinejad, for example, was able to succeed Khatami as President of Iran, both because he exploited the Iranian public's frustration with Khatami's reforms and because the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution voted for Ahmadinejadh.

Iran's reformers learned of this and complained to Khamenei for an investigation, which was ultimately resolved. Perhaps this incident has aroused the vigilance of Supreme Leader Khamenei and prompted him to decide to restrain the influence of the Revolutionary Guards, but at the beginning of Ahmadinejad's presidency, he chose to shield the Revolutionary Guards from "deviance". After all, the IrGC is essentially part of the foundations of the Islamic regime. For jurists such as Khamenei, the Revolutionary Guards are quite reliable in countering U.S. sanctions and suppressing hostile forces at home.

What kind of organization is Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps? Why does the United States hate him to the bone?

Four

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, Iranian society's call for change grew, and demonstrations took place in cities such as Tehran. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is wary of such social changes, such as the Safavid, who was once commander of the Revolutionary Guards, warned the government that if the government could not maintain order, the RW would resort to force to resolve it.

After the 21st century, the navy, army and air force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are basically responsible for the task of resisting foreign insults, and the Quds Force continues to participate in wars abroad, for example, Sulaimani, a senior Iranian official who was killed by the US military in Syria a few years ago, is the commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

As for the maintenance of social order, the responsibility for maintaining social order rests with the police and the Basij militia. According to scholars, the Basij militia has established a special intelligence service (code name "eyes", "surveillance") and cyber security forces, which are very good at dismantling demonstrations and other aspects. However, the Basij militia is not satisfied with maintaining domestic order, and in the complex political situation of the Middle East, they also practice the theory of "exporting revolution" proposed by Khomeini in his later years, sending instructors or military advisers to Algeria, Sudan and other countries to help these countries train their armies.

When Israeli troops crossed the border into Lebanon during the Fifth Middle East War to clear the Palestine Liberation Organization, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also went head-to-head, sending 2,000 men into the mountains of Lebanon to train and arm Lebanon's Shiite militant forces (the Lebanese "Allah Party") to assist in the fight against the Israel Defense Forces. Since the Revolutionary Guards are not strictly state institutions, and their supreme leadership is not in the hands of the president (in the hands of the supreme leader), some of their actions are often "supranational", such as iranian diplomat Zarif once complained that "the Revolutionary Guards sacrificed diplomatic achievements to serve the military field, and Iran paid more diplomatic costs for the military than the military creates for diplomacy." This is one of the reasons why the United States considers the Revolutionary Guards to be a "terrorist organization." However, under the pretext of defending human rights, Americans have repeatedly invaded other countries, overthrown regimes in other countries and created chaos, and what is the difference between themselves and the so-called "terrorist organizations" they define?

Key References:

1. Lin Qiang, "Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Its Influence", International Information, No. 12, 2012.

2. Han Jianwei, A Study on the Economic Modernization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Beijing: Current Affairs Press, August 2019.

3. Ji Kaiyun Lin Huanping: A History of Iran in the Twentieth Century, Lanzhou: Gansu People's Publishing House, December 2002.

4. Wang Guobing, "The Historical Transmutation and Transformation of the Baschi Militia in Iran", Arab World Studies, No. 1, 2019.

5. Wu Yungui, "A Review of the Lebanese Allah Party", West Asia and Africa, No. 6, 1997.

6. Elton Daniel: A History of Iran, translated by Lee Blacksmith, Oriental Publishing Center, August 2010.

7. Dai Junwei, "Analysis of the Infiltration of iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps into Iran's Economic Field Since the Ahmadinejad Period", Journal of Jiangnan Institute of Sociology, September 2019, Vol. 21, No. 3.

8. Wang Fei, "The Role and Influence of the Revolutionary Guards in the Iranian Regime", Asia-Africa, No. 2, 2009.

9. Wang Xinzhong, Ji Kaiyun: A General History of middle Eastern Countries: Iranian Volumes, The Commercial Press, April 2002.

10. Wang Guobing and Wang Tiezheng, "The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iran's Political Development", West Asia and Africa, No. 6, 2019.

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