Iranian Revolutionary Guard

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Flag of the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution.svg Iranian Revolutionary Guard
سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی
Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution
Seal of the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution.svg
guide
Commander in Chief : Supreme religious leader Ali Khamenei
Military Commander: Major General Hussein Salami
Military leadership: Headquarters of the armed forces
Military strength
Active soldiers: 190,000 (2019)
Reservists: 450,000 active Basij (2019)
Conscription: No
Eligibility for military service: 16 years
household
Military budget: 6,090,000,000 US dollars (2019)
history
Founding: 1979
Factual foundation: May 5th 1979

The Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution ( Persian سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی Sepāh-e Pāsdārān-e Enqelāb-e Eslāmī , also Sepāh or Pasdaran for short), informal Revolutionary Guard ( Arabic الحرس الثوري, DMG al-ḥaras aṯ-ṯaurī ), is an Iranian paramilitary organization that forms the armed forces of Iran with the regular army ( Artesch ) .

Set up by Ruhollah Khomeini on May 5, 1979, it developed into an important player during the First Gulf War (1980–1988). The current commander of the Revolutionary Guard is Hussein Salami .

According to their own statements, their aim is to combat “ deviant movements” abroad, including around the world, and to maintain the political system . It has been classified as a terrorist organization by the United States since April 8, 2019 .

history

The organization was founded by Khomeini to bring together a large number of paramilitary groups into a force loyal to the regime. The armed revolutionary groups that may a. Made up of members of the Islamic student movement ( Daneschdschuyane Chate Emam ) and radical, mostly youthful followers of Khomeini, the so-called Hezbollahi , they were subordinate to their first commandant Abbas Zamani (called Abu Sharif ) from 1979 to 1980 . They did not form an official army unit until 1980 due to the First Gulf War.

In October 2009, a suicide attack by the Sunni organization Dschundollah ( God's Brigade ) killed at least 31 people, including five high-ranking commanders of the Revolutionary Guard.

Importance for politics

The military task assigned to the Revolutionary Guard changed after the First Gulf War. Today the Guard u. a. the task of fighting possible opposing political groups. In President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's cabinet , 13 of the 21 ministerial posts were occupied by former commanders of the Revolutionary Guard, including the Ministry of Intelligence. Ahmadinejad himself had also achieved the rank of commander.

On October 25, 2007, the US government accused the Quds Brigades , considered the military intelligence apparatus of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, to be primarily responsible for producing roadside bombs and planning and carrying out targeted attacks in Iraq. Therefore, the US government declared the Quds Brigades a terrorist organization .

Influence on the economy

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard is economically active in almost all areas and, as a paramilitary organization, is the country's largest entrepreneur. Not accountable to anyone but the leader of the revolution , the Pasdaran are not subject to any tax liability and also pay no customs duties on imports. Since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency , as Bahman Nirumand reports, the organization has received concessions for several major projects, including two projects to expand the oil facilities, build a pipeline and expand the Tehran underground railway . Mehdi Khalaji describes 1220 industrial and mining projects over the past 16 years, 247 of which are ongoing. The religious foundation Mostazafan va Dschanbazan (foundation of the oppressed and war veterans) with a turnover of ten billion US dollars a year - created after the First Gulf War - is also a contractual partner in the expansion of the Tehran underground railway with a volume of 2.4 billion US dollars. Dollar. Seaports and airports through which goods not cleared through customs come into the country are also checked by the Revolutionary Guard. This applies in particular to the largest Iranian container port in Bandar Abbas , at the head of which a General of the Revolutionary Guard was recently appointed.

Important Pasdaran companies

One of the companies that are controlled by the Revolutionary Guard is the group of companies " Chatam-ol Anbia " (German: "The Seal of the Prophets"; full name: Chatam ol Anbia Gharargah Sazandegi Nooh ). This holding, which employs tens of thousands of Iranians, runs a. carries out large infrastructure projects, builds oil and gas facilities, roads, railways and metros, oil pipelines and airports. In Lebanon, she is said to be responsible for building the tunnels used by Hezbollah . During his time as mayor of Tehran, the Ahmadinejad group of companies won several major projects worth $ 2.2 billion. At the end of April 2009, the Sepanir company, which belongs to Khatam al-Anbia, acquired a 51 percent stake in Sadra, Iran's largest shipyard. The share of the military sector in corporate projects is estimated at 70%. Khatam al-Anbia has been on the EU sanctions list against Iran since June 24, 2008.

Other companies owned or controlled by the Revolutionary Guard:

  • Oriental Oil Kish
  • Ghorb Nooh
  • Sahel Consultant Engineering
  • Ghorb-e Karbala
  • Sepasad Engineering Co
  • Omran Sahel
  • Hara Company
  • Gharargahe Sazandegi Ghaem
  • Mahan Air

Telecommunications and media sector

Since the protests of the Iranian opposition against the rigged presidential elections in June 2009, the Revolutionary Guards have also been striving to massively expand control over the media and telecommunications sector: In October 2009, the Pasdaran-controlled consortium of companies Etemad-e-Mobine bought 50% of the shares in Iranian telecommunications company (TCI) for 5.3 billion euros from the government, which gave the paramilitaries effective control over the national landline network, all Iranian Internet providers and two mobile phone companies. The Revolutionary Guard's own news agency under the name “Atlas” is planned to be set up by March 2010. According to experts, the Iranian news agency Fars News Agency (FNA), which is known for its pro-regime propaganda and disinformation , is already under the influence of the Revolutionary Guard: it leans heavily on the Pasdaran weekly magazine Sobh-e-Sadegh in its choice of words and language , The Fars editorial board and senior editors are all former Pasdaran commanders and the Fars offices in Tehran are owned by the Guards. The influence of the Guards at Fars is said to have increased massively, especially during President Ahmadinejad's term in office, which was also reflected in the dismissal of independent reporters. Fars still officially denies being controlled by the government or the Pasdaran.

Troop strength

When the Revolutionary Guard was founded, it was around 10,000 men. Through the First Gulf War , the Guard took over the task of reinforcing the regular troops, which could just muster 1/4 of their combat strength, by the end of 1980. Until 1988 the size of the Revolutionary Guard was up to 300,000 men, since then the number of men has decreased. The troop strength of the Pasdaran is now estimated at 125,000 men. The Revolutionary Guard maintains independent units for the army, air force and navy (around 20,000 men) as well as special units such as the Quds unit (troop strength 5,000 men) and the Ashura units .

The best-known subgroup of the Revolutionary Guard is the Basij-e Mostazafin volunteer militia , which suffered tens of thousands of deaths from suicide squads in the First Gulf War and which is now used to suppress the opposition.

Special forces logo

army

Probably the Garden over 21 have infantry and three - Pioneer - divisions and 15 independent infantry brigades , 21 air defense brigades, 42 armored, artillery - and ABC -Abwehrbrigaden.

air force

In 2003 the Pasdaran Air Force acquired around ten Su-25 Frogfoots, some from the Iraqi Air Force's evacuated or captured holdings , and some from unknown sources. In addition, there are about ten ground attack aircraft of the type Embraer Super Tucano / ALX , up to 45 Pilatus PC-7 -Ausbildungsflugzeuge and 20 helicopter of the type Mi-17 in their arsenal. As transport aircraft are 20 Yunshuji-12 and Dassault Falcon and 15 Ilyushin Il-76 from Iraqi stocks and twelve Antonov An-74 is available. The Iranian missiles of the type Shahab 3 are also subordinate to the Pasdaran.

marine

Navy commandos during a 2015 maneuver
Missile speedboats of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Navy in the Strait of Hormuz 2015

The navy is mainly equipped with small, agile boats armed with only machine guns and bazookas carried by the crew, which enable “ guerrilla tactics” in the Persian Gulf. This division also includes the entire Iranian marine infantry of around 5,000 men. Your ship arsenal includes about 40 light patrol boats and since 2002 ten Chinese missile speedboats of Houdong class with about 800 missiles C-eight hundred and first In addition, it is estimated that the Pasdaran operate five to seven anti-tank missile launchers on the Gulf Coast. Allegedly these are partly equipped with improved versions of the C-802, which operate under the name Noor (light). Ukraine also delivered eight SS-N-22 Sunburn anti-ship missiles to Iran in the early 1990s . In 2002, the acquisition of Chinese high-speed rocket catamarans also began .

Spectacular actions by the naval department
  • November 29, 2005: Donald Klein allegedly got into the Iranian restricted area during a fishing trip with a French skipper. Both were eventually sentenced to 18 months in prison for illegally crossing the border.
  • March 23, 2007: 14 soldiers and one female Royal Navy soldier were arrested by the Pasdaran in Shatt al-Arab , creating a diplomatic crisis. The government in Tehran accused the British soldiers of having entered Iranian territorial waters. According to the British representation, however, they were in Iraqi waters. Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad pardoned the soldiers on April 4, 2007.
  • January 6, 2008: A near-fire exchange between Iranian speedboats and US Navy ships in the Strait of Hormuz . According to the US military, five speedboats of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard have approached three American naval ships in the Strait of Hormuz. A radio message also allegedly threatened to blow up the ships. In addition, box-shaped objects were dropped into the water. The US government spoke of a "serious incident" while the Iranian State Department spoke of an "ordinary and natural occurrence". The video material presented by the Pentagon as evidence was described by a Pasdaran officer as forgery. Five days after the incident, the Pentagon relativized the incident to the effect that the radio message with the threat that the American military ships would explode in a few minutes could not have come from the Iranian speedboats. The Iranian reaction came quickly. They too published a video in which they refuted the American allegations. In addition, the radio messages were very indistinct on the American video. The Iranian video clearly showed that the Americans were not pointing their guns at the Iranian boats.

Hezbollah

As part of the export of revolution planned by Iran in the 1980s, up to 2000 fighters from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard were stationed in Lebanon in 1982 to support the Shiite militias during the Lebanese civil war and to carry the Islamic revolution to Lebanon based on the Iranian model. The Revolutionary Guard set up their training camp on the Bekaa Plain , from where they carried out operations against the advancing Israeli army in South Lebanon and the Christian Falange militia in Beirut under the name "Hezbollah" or "Islamic Jihad Organization" .

Among other things, Lebanese fighters, who later formed Hezbollah , received military and ideological training from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in the Sheikh Abdullah barracks in Baalbek . During the 1980s, the Revolutionary Guards stationed in Lebanon were subordinate to Hodschatoleslam Ali Akbar Mohtaschami , who was the Iranian ambassador to Syria . Other Pasdaran commanders in Lebanon included Mohsen Rafiqdust , Ali-Reza Asgari and the current Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najar . After the attacks on the US embassy and the attack on the US base in Beirut in 1983 , both organized by the Iranian Quts Brigades and carried out by Hezbollah, the French launched an air strike against positions of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the Bekaa Valley.

The Lebanese Hezbollah is a sub-organization of the Revolutionary Guard and to this day maintains several members of the Pasdaran as well as high-ranking Iranian officers of the Quds Brigades as military advisers and strategists in its ranks. The flag of Hezbollah is also based on that of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and was designed in Iran.

Commanders

Seal of the General Staff
Unofficial commanders
Official commanders

Seven Revolutionary Guard commanders were killed in a plane crash on January 8, 2006. Brigadier General Ahmad Kazemi (Head of Ground Forces), Brigadier General Said Mohtadi, Brigadier General Hanif (Head of Intelligence), Brigadier General Soleimani (Chief of Operations of the Ground Forces) and Brigadier General Yazdani (Chief of Artillery ) were among the leaders of the Revolutionary Guard. The Dassault Falcon 20 machine crashed near Lake Urmia with 15 passengers on board.

Garrisons

  • Tehran and the surrounding area: Imam Ali Garrison , Mostafa Khomeini Garrison, Hezbollah Garrison, Lavizan Training Center, Abyek Training Center, Eezeh Training Garrison
  • Qom and surroundings: Ali Abad Garrison, Imam Sadeq Garrison, Beit-ol-Moqaddas University, Fateh Qani Hosseini Garrison
  • Ahwas : Abuzahr Garrison, Navvab Safavi School, Ghayur Asli Garrison
  • Mahshahr : Crate Camp Garrison, Darwish Training Center
  • Karaj : Bahonar Garrison
  • Dezful : Kothar Training Garrison
  • Kermanshah : Qazanchi training center
  • Nahavand : Nahavand training center
  • Elam : Amir-ol-Mohmenin Garrison

criticism

On April 8, 2019, US President Donald Trump classified the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization because they are allegedly a promoter of terrorism and actively participated in, financed and promoted terrorism. For the first time, the United States has declared another state's organ as a terrorist organization. In return, Iran classified the United States Central Command , or CENTCOM for short, the regional command responsible for the Middle East , East Africa and Central Asia , also as a terrorist organization. The Revolutionary Guards were accused by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) of serious human rights violations such as torture, kidnapping and targeted killings.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Change of leadership in the Revolutionary Guards. Retrieved April 22, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Morris M Mottale: The birth of a new class - Focus. al-Jazeera , archived from the original on June 7, 2015 ; accessed on October 29, 2013 .
  3. ↑ ORF at / Agencies red: New escalation with Iran: USA put revolutionary guards on terrorist list. April 8, 2019, accessed April 14, 2019 .
  4. ↑ At least 31 dead. Suicide attack on the Revolutionary Guard in Iran. In: The world . October 18, 2009, accessed April 10, 2015 .
  5. ↑ a b U.S. Department of State, October 2007: Fact Sheet: Designation of Iranian Entities and Individuals for Proliferation Activities and Support for Terrorism , accessed June 5, 2015.
  6. ↑ iran report No. 12/2006
  7. ↑ Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps, Inc. ( Memento of October 4, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ Le Monde diplomatique of February 12, 2010: The Revolutionary Guard in Iran
  9. ↑ Decision of the Council of June 23, 2008 for the implementation of Article 7 (2) of Regulation (EC) No. 423/2007 on restrictive measures against Iran
  10. ^ Revolutionary Guards Extend Reach to Iran's Media. In: Wall Street Journal. November 4, 2009 (English).
  11. ↑ a b The Gulf Military Forces in an Era of Asymmetric War ( Memento from July 26, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
  12. ↑ Iran crisis: Great Britain demands immediate release of its soldiers. In: Spiegel Online . March 23, 2007, accessed January 2, 2017 .
  13. ↑ Iran crisis: Ahmadinejad announces the release of British soldiers. In: Spiegel Online . April 4, 2007, accessed January 2, 2017 .
  14. ↑ Almost skirmish in the Persian Gulf. In: sueddeutsche.de . Archived from the original on January 10, 2008 ; accessed on January 2, 2017 .
  15. ↑ Incident in the Persian Gulf - Bush: Iran threatens world peace. In: sueddeutsche.de . May 17, 2010, accessed January 2, 2017 .
  16. ^ Pentagon 'Iran Attack' Video from USS Hopper. Retrieved January 2, 2017 .
  17. ^ Reuters.com: Iran changes Revolutionary Guards commander
  18. ↑ Calm or Storm Under Commander Jafari? ( Memento of October 7, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  19. ↑ Iran's top military commanders die in plane crash. In: Iran Focus. January 8, 2006, archived from the original on June 12, 2013 ; Retrieved April 10, 2015 .
  20. ↑ Iran Focus has obtained a list of 20 terrorist camps and centers run by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). In: Iran Focus. February 27, 2006, archived from the original on February 17, 2008 ; Retrieved April 10, 2015 .
  21. ↑ USA declares Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organization. In: Israelnetz .de. April 9, 2019, accessed April 29, 2019 .
  22. ↑ Dunja Ramadan: Revolutionary Guard on the terror list. Retrieved November 24, 2019 .
  23. ↑ Iran 2019. Accessed April 23, 2020 .
  24. ↑ Human Rights Watch | 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor | New York, NY 10118-3299 USA | t 1.212.290.4700: World Report 2019: Rights Trends in Iran. December 17, 2018, accessed April 23, 2020 .
  25. ^ Revolutionary Guards Arrest 11 Arab-Iranian Flood Volunteers in Khuzestan Province. In: Center for Human Rights in Iran. April 12, 2019, accessed April 23, 2020 .