Crown Family Director

Professor of the Practice in Politics

Gary Samore

Director for Research

Charles (Corky) Goodman Professor
The Informal Roots of the IRGC and the
of Middle East History
Naghmeh Sohrabi Implications for Iranian Politics Today
Associate Director
Kristina Cherniahivsky Maryam Alemzadeh
Associate Director for Research
David Siddhartha Patel

Myra and Robert Kraft Professor

of Arab Politics
Eva Bellin
T he Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC)—the
military, security, and economic organization that is
intertwined with Iran’s governance in numerous ways—has
Founding Director
Professor of Politics significantly expanded its influence in the Middle East in
Shai Feldman recent years. With support from the office of the Supreme
Henry J. Leir Professor of the Leader and under General Qasem Soleimani’s command,
Economics of the Middle East
Nader Habibi the IRGC has established or assisted Shi‘a militias in Iraq,
Renée and Lester Crown Professor
Afghanistan, Syria, and Yemen. In the past twelve months, the
of Modern Middle East Studies Trump administration has described this expansive presence
Pascal Menoret
as “destructive” and pursued a policy of maximum pressure
Founding Senior Fellows
Abdel Monem Said Aly to compel Iran to “act like a normal nation.”1 In addition to
Khalil Shikaki withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal (the JCPOA) and
Sabbatical Fellows imposing extensive economic sanctions, the administration
Arash Davari
Gökçe Günel recently announced its decision to designate the IRGC as
Harold Grinspoon Junior Research Fellow
a Foreign Terrorist Organization, even though the IRGC is
Maryam Alemzadeh an official military wing of the Iranian government.2 Will
Neubauer Junior Research Fellow these policies successfully constrain the IRGC as the most
Yazan Doughan
controversial agent of Iran’s foreign policy in the Middle East?
Junior Research Fellows
Hayal Akarsu This Brief argues that any answer to this question must rely on a careful
Youssef El Chazli
examination of the inherently informal nature of the IRGC; otherwise, the
IRGC’s behavior will be considered more predictable than it is in reality. In
fact, informality was ingrained in the IRGC based on the contingencies of its

early political and military history: The IRGC’s unconventionally informal
September 2019
and hence flexible political structure was established and soon became
No. 130
consolidated in the very first days of the Islamic Republic, after the 1979
 revolution. It was a structure that reflected the informal organization of clerical
circles and lay Shi‘a communities in the revolutionary resistance movement and
their continued presence in politics after the revolution. The Brief explores the
debates around the IRGC’s formation regarding its connection to such informal
circles and analyzes how the flexible modus operandi that emerged as a result was
consolidated in the IRGC during the armed conflicts of the following years.

The Advantages of Informality

The legacy of internalized informality is important for understanding Iranian
politics today, especially with regard to the IRGC and U.S. policy toward its
military activities. Existing assessments of Iran’s foreign policy and of the IRGC’s
regional activities often rely on the problematic assumption that the Iranian
government is a monolithic entity operating consistently on an optimally rational
bureaucratic basis and that, by extension, the IRGC is a masterfully designed,
centrally controlled organization that pursues clear goals through rationally
plausible means.3

It is commonly acknowledged that there is a tension between the more moderate

policies of President Hassan Rouhani and the radical posture of the IRGC, backed
by the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. What is less commonly acknowledged is the
distinctive organizational style under which the latter operates. The president and
the offices under his supervision, like other formal bureaucracies, largely pursue
premeditated, transparent, and legally justifiable policies. In organizations such as
the IRGC, however, it has become acceptable over the years to make spontaneous
Maryam Alemzadeh is the decisions and embark on actions that are ideologically praiseworthy even when
Harold Grinspoon Junior they are not pragmatically justified.
Research Fellow at the
Crown Center. Even though the IRGC is arguably loyal and obedient to the Supreme Leader,
occasional remarks or actions that go against centrally and collectively devised
policies are neither restrained nor reprimanded, as long as they communicate a
radical, revolutionary stance. Whereas some analysts take some such remarks
and actions as representing the totality of the IRGC, other observers dismiss such
occurrences as insignificant divergences from the organization’s comprehensive
system of command and control.5 Both approaches are problematic as a basis for
addressing Iran and the IRGC’s regional activities, however, as they disregard the
spontaneity and unpredictability that the IRGC’s informal structure enables.

Since the initiation of the IRGC into Iranian politics, its leaders and clerical
supporters have prioritized personal trust over organizational roles, individual or
small-group spontaneity over organizational decision-making, and “revolutionary”
direct action over blind obedience. In reviewing these trends in the IRGC’s
early history, this Brief argues that the organization’s strength lies not in a
systematic network of operatives and resources, whether covert (as the Quds
Force is sometimes characterized) or openly acknowledged (as its domestic
economic presence is described), but rather in its flexibility and its tolerance for
improvisation and spontaneity.

The opinions and findings expressed

in this Brief belong to the author Informality and Early State-Building
exclusively and do not reflect those of the
Crown Center or Brandeis University. The early power struggles in post-revolutionary Iran were not simply about
who would get to assume which influential offices. They were about what

2
organizational form, what modus operandi, those were to be found only among the religious-nationalists, to
offices should take. Moderate, mostly non-clerical be included. Clerics close to Khomeini, however, insisted
activists envisioned a conventional form of government, that leading the movement itself, for which there was
with rational, bureaucratic underpinnings. This no need to include religious-nationalist activists, was
group of activists, sometimes referred to as “religious- the more immediate agenda. They thereby postponed
nationalists,” had some experience in formal politics delegating leadership to professional religious-nationalist
prior to the revolution. Although Muslim and supported politicians and so strengthened their own foothold in the
by a few prominent clerics, they strived to restrict the leadership circle.7
influence of both religion and revolutionary passion on
the government. Clerics close to Khomeini and their With Khomeini’s return after fifteen years of exile
followers, on the other hand, preferred the communal, ten days before the triumph of the revolutionary
grassroots, and informal model of collective work that movement, activists needed to embark on large-scale
they had developed during the revolutionary movement. logistical preparations, such as making arrangements
This latter group is commonly referred to as “Islamists” for Khomeini’s flight back to Iran, organizing rallies
owing to their preference for the maximal incorporation for greeting him, and arranging for a suitable location
of Islamic law and the dominance of clerical leadership in for him to reside in the days to come. The Committee
governance. The two rival groups are hereinafter referred for Welcoming the Imam, which would become the
to as religious-nationalists and Islamists. headquarters of the revolution’s leadership upon
Khomeini’s arrival, was established for this purpose.
Prior to the 1979 revolution, clerics and seminary Facing major practical responsibilities, the Islamists
students attracted to Khomeini’s anti-Pahlavi agenda agreed to put the more experienced religious-nationalists
came together in loosely organized resistance groups. in charge of practical matters, including devising an
What brought these activists together in such organizational chart and recruiting necessary staff
collectives, however, was not a planned organization and security forces. They did not grant the religious-
with an explicitly articulated plan of action, of the nationalists full authority to execute the plans they
sort characteristic of more conventional revolutionary devised, however. Instead, they intermittently interrupted
activity. For instance, religious-nationalist activists their organizing work and relied on two assets within
worked mainly within various NGOs or participated their circles of clerics and their followers to get necessary
in formal politics as reformers, and a range of Marxist tasks accomplished.
militias operated as clandestine small cells. Instead
of establishing independently designed resistance First and foremost, Islamists had access to manpower
organizations, Islamists remained embedded inside and resources within numerous trusted networks of
seminaries or, in the case of lay activists, within activists already loosely mobilized through the semi-
neighborhood-based communal organizations, such as formal organizations mentioned above. By relying on
mosques and congregations that were responsible for such small communities, they managed to organize tasks
holding annual mourning rituals. From within those in a decentralized fashion without risking disruption or
structures, they identified other individuals who shared division of their forces. As a result, they could disregard
their political awareness. Although such communities the plans that were centrally devised with the religious-
were not completely mobilized, existing nodes and ties nationalists’ cooperation and yet procure the resources
within them were activated for revolutionary purposes.6 needed for any given job, though not in the most efficient
The result was a resilient and flexible network with no way possible. Mobilizing and training the Welcoming
recognizable organizational boundaries, which was hard Committee’s security personnel was a case in point:
for Pahlavi’s security organization to uncover. Islamists disregarded the collective decision to recruit
volunteers through a unified procedure and instead relied
The same flexible style of collective action was put to on trusted pre-existing, semi-independent small groups
overt political use within the earliest post-revolutionary to provide security for Khomeini’s return.8
organizations, such as the Revolutionary Council. In
January 1978, a month before the revolution was declared Secondly, strong ties between individuals within
victorious, Khomeini asked clerics close to him to put established Islamist communities made for leaders with
together a team of leaders, to be called the Revolutionary a high degree of flexibility. Individuals were able to
Council. The Council was supposed to serve not just as drift away spontaneously from collective agreements
centralized leadership for the movement but also as the without risking criticism or exclusion, and they could
nucleus for the post-revolutionary state apparatus; it was rejoin the community immediately afterwards, as long
necessary, therefore, for experienced politicians, who as the spontaneous move was not against the principles

3
that held their community together: the dignity of Islam and, as a result, how rigid an organizational structure
and of the clerics, along with a revolutionary passion for would be imposed on it.
achieving and preserving an ideal Islamic society under
Khomeini’s leadership. This flexibility allowed Islamists Throughout the revolution, a few small irregular warfare
to diverge from plans that religious-nationalists had militias had formed under the leadership of activists
made whenever they felt that the religious-nationalists briefly trained in guerrilla camps outside of Iran. With
were influencing policies too strongly. Thus, while the the revolutionary movement’s success, at least three of
Welcoming Committee had designated its headquarters, these groups made themselves known to both the public
a school in southern Tehran, to serve also as Khomeini’s and officials as “guardians of the Islamic revolution” and
residence, a single cleric decided to move him overnight started to operate as self-authorized law enforcement
to another location, where religious-nationalists did centers.10 The religious-nationalist provisional government
not have a strong presence. This move was met with initiated a plan to unify these guardian corps, along with
surprise at first from other clerics, but it was later praised hundreds of civilian clusters that had taken up arms
as a decision that would “save the revolution” from the and acted as neighborhood watch units known as the
religious-nationalists’ undesirable influence.9 Committees. The government’s goal was to subordinate
all armed activity under a centrally organized militia,
On February 5, 1979, Khomeini decreed the establishment which would serve as a temporary replacement for the
of a provisional government. In line with his and others’ pre-revolutionary law enforcement organizations.
belief that formal politics should be left to the more
experienced religious-nationalists, he introduced Mahdi Religious-nationalists close to the provisional government
Bazargan, an experienced politician, as the provisional convened on February 24, 1979, to discuss the foundation
prime minister. Islamists did not leave the political scene, of such a militia. Although Islamists in charge of the
however, instead focusing their activities within semi- Revolutionary Council were aware of this development,
official organizations parallel to the new government. The they were not invited by the government to help establish
Revolutionary Council, for example, continued to serve as the militia. The provisional prime minister declared
the authority for providing overarching policy guidelines on the same day that a national guard (i.e., the IRGC)
and overseeing presidential and parliamentary elections. had been established and would take orders from the
In addition, impromptu revolutionary institutions started provisional government.11
to emerge based on the same assets that had enabled
the Islamists to manage the activities of the Welcoming Islamists went to work immediately, though, to impose
Committee. The religious-nationalists initiated the their influence on this militia. Mohsen Rafiqdust,
IRGC as an official militia to centralize scattered armed an activist who had been in charge of logistics at the
activity. Emerging as it did, however, out of a political Welcoming Committee, recalls that he was unofficially
field divided over organizational styles of governance, the assigned by a couple of Revolutionary Council clerics to
IRGC’s structure was a matter of political struggle from attend the provisional government’s February 24 meeting,
the moment of its birth. uninvited. He was unable to immediately bring the IRGC
under the Revolutionary Council’s command; at the end
of that meeting, the entity was announced as an office
The IRGC as an Arena of Organizational of the provisional government. In the next few months,
however, as the provisional government struggled to
Struggle and Institution-Building
unify grassroots guardian units under this umbrella
organization, Rafiqdust and other Islamist activists
Because of its ideological posture, its politics, and the
played a crucial role in minimizing the provisional
prominent role it plays today in Iran’s political sphere,
government’s control.
it is often assumed that the IRGC has always been the
Islamic Republic’s loyal armed force and that it was
A reasonable and legal path for centralizing scattered
heavily supported by the post-revolutionary government
militias seemed to be for the three established guardian
from its inception. That is not the case. It is almost
organizations to join forces with the government’s IRGC
forgotten today that it was the religious-nationalist
and gradually absorb and train volunteers active in
provisional government that first took the initiative to
grassroots neighborhood watch units (the Committees).
unify under a national guard, tentatively called the Islamic
Even though the IRGC was infiltrated by Islamists, none
Revolutionary Guards Corps, the multitude of grassroots
of the other three corps were willing to go along with this
militias that had emerged throughout the revolution. The
plan, nor were Committee activists: They were reluctant
IRGC, as we know it today, emerged only after months
to forego their autonomy and submit to government
of struggle over which office would assume its command

4
control. It was finally Rafiqdust, the Revolutionary
Council’s man imposed on the IRGC, who convinced the Armed Activity and the Continuation of
other groups to join in with the promise that the Corps
Informality
would soon release itself from government supervision.12
Even before the end of the struggle over which office
The desire to put the IRGC under the control of the
would command the IRGC, small Guards units had
Revolutionary Council was not just a matter of political
become involved in repressing ethnic uprisings around
side-taking, but it also reflected a preference for the
the country. The most intensive of such clashes happened
Council’s loose organizational constraints. Just as
in Kurdish-populated areas along the western border,
Rafiqdust was imposed on the first IRGC meeting as “the
where the hiatus in central control had emboldened the
Council’s Representative,” other personal and informal
Kurds’ plea for self-governance.
decisions based on clerics’ momentary inclinations could
be made in the name of the Council. And if the IRGC
As the IRGC became more heavily engaged in repressing
were accountable to the Revolutionary Council instead
such uprisings, it would have been reasonable for leaders
of to the government, it would be easier for leaders to
to come together in order to professionalize the militia.
reproduce and maintain the same structure within the
Orchestrating armed activity within a nationwide militia
IRGC itself.
could have marked a turning point in the Islamists’
organizational logic, from a spontaneous, informal
The refurbished Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps
approach to one marked by more central planning. But
issued its first declaration on April 22, 1979. A command
this was still not to be the case: The IRGC continued
council was introduced, and it was declared that the
to operate in a flexible and spontaneous manner when
IRGC would now take orders only from Ayatollah
fighting against Kurdish insurgents. The chain of
Khomeini and the Revolutionary Council, not from the
command was not yet established; local commanders
government. The Islamists had thereby taken their style
had limited or no military experience; and the volunteer
of informal collective action to a more complex level.
troops were not professionally trained.
Whereas previously they had deployed an informal
approach in leading unofficial collectives such as
The building blocks, instead, were small, semi-
neighborhood congregations and resistance circles, they
autonomous units led by individuals trusted as dedicated
were now responsible for running a nationwide militia,
revolutionaries. The irregular nature of warfare with
which was soon to become involved in armed conflict.
Kurdish guerrillas highlighted the advantages of the
Guards’ organizational flexibility and enabled IRGC
Soon afterwards, IRGC leaders expanded the
leaders to even claim technical superiority over the
organization along the lines of this same logic: Trusted
classically organized Iranian Army when it came to
individuals with limited experience were assigned to
irregular warfare. The IRGC’s organizational flexibility
establish specialized units, and trusted pre-existing local
was appreciated by volunteer participants: They sought
armed clusters were given official status to expand their
direct and passionate involvement in the cause that
activities under the banner of the IRGC. The formation of
was the Iranian revolution, and the IRGC was able
the Basij volunteer militia as an attachment to the IRGC
to offer them the opportunity for such involvement.
in November 1979 further accelerated its organizational
The dependence was mutual; the IRGC’s minimally
growth. And although the IRGC was initially created
planned decentralization necessarily relied on the will of
by the provisional government as a temporary entity,
participants to undertake initiatives independently.
Islamists made sure that it was enshrined in the
constitution that was ratified in December 1979.
This mutual dependence was greatly enhanced and relied
upon when the war with Iraq started in September 1980.
Indeed, the IRGC soon became the epitome of Iranian
In the first year of the Iran-Iraq war, as Iran’s religious-
revolutionary identity. Under the umbrella afforded by
nationalist president, Banisadr, was reluctant to provide
the Revolutionary Council’s lenient expectations with
the nonprofessional Guards with arms or financial
respect to transparency and organizational discipline,
aid, the IRGC continued to rely on informal resources
it embraced its passionate volunteers’ desire for semi-
and flexible organizational structures. At the level of
autonomous “revolutionary” action. As the IRGC
intermediate leadership, the IRGC relied on the personal
undertook more intensive engagement in armed activity,
initiatives of officers on the ground to build small
this organizational flexibility was gradually ingrained in
structures throughout the vast battlefield, using what
the IRGC as its combat identity.
minimal equipment the organization could offer them.
They remained connected to the leadership through either
5
existing interpersonal acquaintances or newly built ties more stable supply of rank-and-file soldiers. From 1984
of trust, based on a positive informal assessment of their onward the IRGC started training new commanders at
revolutionary identity. military universities and education centers, using IRGC
commanders’ war experiences as well as army officers’
Even when the IRGC expanded in size by recruiting military knowledge. In 1985, IRGC commanders received
hundreds of thousands of volunteers, the same informality Khomeini’s permission to transform the organization into
remained at the core of its organizational work. Many a three-force military, and an IRGC Air Force and Navy
volunteers bonded with their immediate commanders were established.
and projected a similar level of connection to higher levels
of command. IRGC leaders counted on their dedication Despite all the professionalization and organizational
to perform small high-risk night raids, and volunteers in consolidation underway, a flexible style of organizational
turn appreciated the IRGC’s recognition of their desire work was institutionalized deeply enough in the IRGC to
for free-spirited action. continue as the engine running the organization. Until the
end of the war with Iraq in 1988, the chain of command
Toward the end of the first year of the war, the IRGC was still not transparent; major decisions were still made
managed to convince Iranian army officers that the in informal settings; and spontaneous moves were still
strategic information the IRGC was gathering about tolerated across the board. Even after the introduction of
enemy lines and the IRGC’s motivated infantry units military ranks and promotion paths and the exponential
could complement classic military plans. Ten infantry increase in the IRGC’s political power in the post–
battalions of Guards and Basijis were deployed in the first Iran-Iraq war decades, it has preserved its identity as a
successful grand offensive on the Iranian side, in October “network of brotherhood.”14
1981: Operation Samen. The success of Samen, alongside
political conflicts leading to the impeachment of the In the years following the political and military rise of
religious-nationalist president, who had been reluctant the IRGC, starting as early as 1982, some IRGC officers
to assign the IRGC a bigger role in the war, elevated the left the organization in protest. Some volunteers declined
IRGC’s status as an armed force independent of the army, the offer to become members and preferred to serve as
even as it was still operating with extreme organizational Basijis. Some members were fired as they continued their
flexibility. early-days habit of challenging authorities freely when
they saw fit. But surprisingly, a large group of Iran-Iraq
war veterans still see the IRGC as the ideal revolutionary
Post-war Formalization and the Survival of organization and believe that it does, or at least can, run
according to the flexible modality it adopted in its early
Grassroots Ideals
years. They have remained dedicated to the belief that the
IRGC still serves the cause of the revolution. Until today,
The IRGC had even greater appeal for the Islamists after
they defend the IRGC’s conduct during the war, even if
it successfully institutionalized a flexible and, hence,
they no longer have an affiliation with the IRGC or never
popular style on the battlefield by May of 1982. Islamists
had one officially.
had ascended to power in all government departments
by then, and the IRGC was receiving increased financial
and political support. After Operation Samen, the IRGC
began a streak of expansion that continued until the end Implications
of the war in 1988; every few months it grew in one way
or another. In the fall of 1981, its first armored unit was This history of the formation and early years of
established by refurbishing looted Iraqi tanks. Infantry the IRGC raises two points that have important
battalions rose from 10 in September of 1981 to 100 in implications for understanding Iran and the IRGC’s
March of 1982. The percentage of the military budget foreign and political behavior today. First and foremost,
allocated to the IRGC rose from 7.3 in 1980 to 20.3 in the fluid organizational style that characterized the
1982, 31.1 in 1984, and 44.1 in 1987.13 IRGC in its early years has now become an embedded
characteristic of the organization. Informality has been
In 1983, as IRGC commanders refused to accept the deeply institutionalized within the IRGC in a gradual,
army’s command any longer, the political leadership multi-stage manner, so that even after its bureaucratic
granted them the opportunity to plan and execute major expansion after the Iran-Iraq war, it continues to
operations independently. During that same year, the drive the organization. More importantly, since that
IRGC became entitled to a proportion of conscripts of informality has been associated with embracing genuine
the compulsory service, which provided them with a grassroots activity in defense of the Islamic Republic’s

6
ideals, it has acquired a sacredness in the discourse not Guards and Wars in the Middle East (London: Rowman and
only of “revolutionary” organizations such as the IRGC Littlefield, 2019).
itself, but of the political offices under the Supreme 4 For example, Uskowi (in Temperature Rising, pp. 21ff.)
Leader’s supervision. As a result, expectations for this talks about the “Shi‘a Liberation Army (SLA)” as a
organizational behavior to morph into a more “normal” systematic transnational militia that the IRGC has
diligently established and centrally commands today.
modus operandi within the Islamic Republic of Iran do
But, in fact, the term “SLA” was coined in an interview
not seem realistic. with a mid-ranking commander, reflecting his own
interpretation of the IRGC’s support for scattered
The second point to be concluded from this historical militias in the region. The term has not been contested
narrative is that the IRGC was the most enduring result of by IRGC’s central command, as it is consistent with
the power struggle between grassroots-oriented Islamists its general ideology; but it is nonetheless a distorting
and the religious-nationalist technocrats who were of exaggeration of the level of central organization and
a more conventional organizational mindset. Although planning behind the IRGC’s regional presence.
religious-nationalists have long been expelled from Iran’s 5 The Iran Action Group’s first report, for instance,
political scenery, reformists and moderates have taken introduces the IRGC as a homogenous and highly
disciplined organization that is the agent of Iran’s
up their place in the country’s political struggle. And
“devastating activities” across the Middle East (U.S.
the same pattern of interaction that eventually led to the Department of State Iran Action Group, “Outlaw
monopolization of the IRGC by Islamists can be seen Regime: A Chronicle of Iran’s Destructive Activities”).
in Iranian foreign policy today. While the Office of the 6 Informal organizations did emerge out of such
President and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are together structures, as the existence of entities such as the
the on-the-ground face of Iran’s diplomacy in international Society of Combatant Clergy and the Association
venues, organizations accountable directly to the Supreme of Mourning Congregations testifies. And I believe
Leader roam freely and pull the strings of the country’s that their separation from non-political clerical and
anti-American and anti-Zionist posture. lay networks was more nominal than anything else.
One can imagine them as politicized sub-networks,
embedded within religious ones, which still operated
To neglect this divide is to misconstrue the effect of
on the basis of the same personal connections and
punitive policies on Iran’s domestic and international with the same overall structure.
politics. The IRGC’s extraterritorial operations are 7 See Beheshti’s public speech in April 1979, reprinted
executed through informal channels that are sometimes in Morteza Nazari, Khaterat-e mandegar as zendegi-ye
devised spontaneously. As a result, restrictive policies that Ayatollah Doktor Sayyed Mohammad Hoseyni Beheshti
target predictable organizational behaviors are unlikely [Unforgettable memories from the life of Ayatollah
to directly and exclusively affect the IRGC’s fluctuating Dr. Mohommad Hoseyni Beheshti] (Tehran: Daftar- e
methods, networks, and resources or their largely Nashr-e Farhang-e Eslami, 1378[1999], p. 200).
volunteer mass support. Instead, punitive restrictions 8 Mohsen Rafiqdust, Baray-e tarikh miguyam: khaterat-e
imposed on Iran weaken the technocratic, internationally Mohsen Rafiqdust [I Speak for history: Memoirs of
Mohsen Rafiqdust], vol. 1 (Tehran: Sureh-ye Mehr,
accountable section of the polity, which relies on more
1393[2014]).
predictable venues for running the country’s day-to-day 9 Muhammadreza Mahdavi-Kani, Khaterat-e ayatollah
affairs. Mahdavi-Kani [Memoirs of Ayatollah Mahdavi-Kani]
(Tehran: Markaz-e Asnad-e Enqelab-e Eslami,
1386[2007]).
Endnotes 10 Javad Mansuri, Tarikh-e Shafahi-ye ta’sis-e Sepah-e
Pasdaran-e Enqelab-e Eslami [Oral history of the
establishment of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards
1 U.S. Department of State, “Remarks on the Creation Corps] (Tehran: Markaze-e Asnad-e Enqelab-e Eslami,
of the Iran Action Group,” August 16, 2018. 1393 [2014]).
2 The White House, “Statement from the President on 11 Interview with Keyhan, quoted in Mansuri, Tarikh-e
the Designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Shafahi-ye ta’sis-e Sepah-e Pasdaran-e Enqelab-e Eslami, p.
Corps as a Foreign Terrorist Organization,” April 8, 47.
2019. 12 Mohsen Rafiqdust, Baray-e tarikh miguyam: khaterat-e
3 For examples of analyses that rely on such Mohsen Rafiqdust, p. 51.
assumptions, see Nikola Schahgaldian, The Iranian 13 “Management and Planning Organization,” document
Military under the Islamic Republic (Santa Monica, CA: reprinted in Hoseyn Ala’i, Ravand-e Jang-e Iran va Iraq
RAND, 1987); Ali Alfoneh, Iran Unveiled: How the [The Iran-Iraq War process], 2 vols. (Tehran: Marz-o
Revolutionary Guards Is Turning Theocracy into Military Bum, 1391, [2012]).
Dictatorship (Washington, D.C: AEI Press, 2013); and 14 Ali Ansari, “The Revolution Will Be Mercantilized,”
Nader Uskowi, Temperature Rising: Iran’s Revolutionary The National Interest (January/February 2010), p. 50.
7
The Informal Roots of the IRGC and the
Implications for Iranian Politics Today
Maryam Alemzadeh

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