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Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC): More Than A Branch Of Armed Forces

This study aims at analyzing the role of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ (IRGC) extraterritorial activities in attaining Iran’s foreign policy goals. The regime has deliberately supported several armed non-state actors to achieve the goals, particularly as seen in its relations with Lebanese Hezbollah and Shia groups in Iraq, the IRGC has served as a node in providing a broad range of state support. Although the IRGC has the characteristics of conventional armed forces, its extraterritorial activities contradict the legal frame of ‘use of military force’ and mostly fit the characteristics of ‘state sponsorship of terrorism.’ Moreover, these activities challenge international norms and provoke other regional actors. This condition creates an obstacle to Iran’s integration into the international system which is increasingly globalized and interconnected and an environment which is costly to live within and leaves it isolated. These attitudes paradoxically place Iran in a situation that challenges the goals of ‘state security and survival’ and ‘becoming the regional power’ in the long run. Thus, it is argued that the real reason behind the regime’s insistence on this strategy is preserving the current political system and the power of current ruling elites; in brief, it is labeled ‘regime survival’ in this study. The 1979 Iranian Revolution is the most important turning point in Iran’s recent history. The revolution put Iran in a controversial and exceptional position in the Islamic World, and the regional and global arena. There were many factors that constituted ground for the revolution. Particularly, the Shiite clerical power in society can be accepted as the most important one. Since 1501, when Shiism became the state religion with compulsory conversion as a political move against the expansion of foreign influences, Shiism and clerics have been an active component of Iranian politics. In a series of events, the Tobacco Monopoly revolt (18901891), the Constitutional Revolution (1905-1906), the Oil Nationalization Movement of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh (1951-1953), and the Iranian Islamic Revolution (1978-1979), reactions to the domination of Iran and exploitation of its wealth and resources by foreign powers, clergies played a prominent role. Their historically rooted influence and well-established network in society made them a victor of the 1979 Revolution under Khomeini’s leadership. The 1979 Iranian Revolution was not merely a change in rulers. It made Khomeini’s ideology, which is a blend of his interpretation of Shiism and Persian nationalism, the dominant characteristic of the post-revolutionary era, and has influenced every aspect of life. The revolution has changed its political structure, the priorities of policy makers, the economic spheres of Iran, but even more fundamentally, culture and society. After the revolution, Iran declared itself a theocratic republic guided by religious principles and named itself the Islamic Republic of Iran. The revolution also completely transformed Iran’s foreign policy and