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The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is one of the most powerful and feared organisations in Iran, playing central roles in the country’s projection of power, internal security and economy.
Among the organisation’s many prominent military duties, the corps operated what was Iran’s formidable ballistic missile arsenal. The IRGC also oversaw the Quds Force, an expeditionary arm that partners with Iran’s various regional affiliates, including Hamas and Hezbollah.
Billions of dollars have been channelled through the IRGC to fund proxies in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Gaza, known as the Axis of Resistance, which have carried out attacks against the US and Israel.
Unsurprisingly, the IRGC has been relentlessly targeted by both Israel and the US since the start of the Iran war in February 2026, along with Iran’s nuclear, drone and ballistic missile programme. Elements of Iran’s navy and other military installations have also been struck.
The extent of the damage that has been wrought upon the organisation will only become clear in the weeks and months ahead. At least 11 senior members of the IRGC have been killed since the start of the war, including Major General Mohammad Pakpour, the IRGC’s commander-in-chief, and Major General Majid Khademi, the head of the organisation’s intelligence division.
Early estimates suggest that up to 6,000 members of the IRGC could have been killed in the conflict, but what real impact, if any, those losses have on the organisation will only become clear in the weeks and months ahead.
Who are the IRGC?
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ influence stretches beyond military and intelligence roles to politics, education and the economy.
Established after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the IRGC operates separately from, and often contrary to, Iran’s traditional military. It is an elite force loyal to the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and has grown in size and power over the decades.
With ground troops numbering more than 150,000, the IRGC also runs its own navy and air force, separate from Iran’s regular armed forces. It oversees the country’s ballistic missile programme, once regarded as the largest in the Middle East but widely incapacitated during Israel’s attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites in June.
Have other countries sanctioned the IRGC?
The US designated the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organisation in 2019, during Donald Trump’s first administration. Canada followed in 2024 and the EU in 2026. The UK has indicated that it plans to list the IRGC but has yet to do so.
The US State Department has accused the IRGC of being directly involved in terrorist plotting, as well as a plot to assassinate President Donald Trump.
In 2024, Argentina’s highest criminal court blamed the IRGC and Hezbollah for a 1994 attack against a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires which killed 85 people. Iran has said it was not involved.
In 2020, an IRGC missile operator shot down a Ukraine International Airlines flight moments after it took off from Tehran airport, killing 176 people. An IRGC official said the plane had been misidentified as a cruise missile.
In 2024, an IRGC official was among three men charged in the US over an attempted plot to kidnap and assassinate an Iranian American journalist in New York. All three men were based in Iran and remain at large.
How influential are the IRGC in Iran’s domestic politics?
Former IRGC officers have held key positions in Iran’s politics and the group’s mandate to protect “revolutionary values” has seen it become a powerful force in policing social and cultural issues in the country.
Overseen by the supreme leader, the IRGC is often seen as more powerful than the country’s president and is thought to have greater sway over foreign policy.
The group oversees some educational institutions and has pushed research into aerospace and drone technology to advance its military capabilities. It has economic interests that span construction and telecommunications to oil and gas projects, and it is thought the IRGC is behind the vast network of shadow tankers that has allowed Iran to circumvent Western sanctions on its oil exports.
What role does it play internationally?
The Quds Force is responsible for the IRGC’s overseas operations. It has sponsored and armed groups across the Middle East, including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen.
Known in Tehran as the Axis of Resistance, these groups helped to push Iran’s influence abroad but have been dismantled and degraded to varying degrees over the course of almost two years of conflict with Israel following the 7 October attacks and the start of the war in Gaza.
The Quds Force itself has also suffered major blows, with many of its most senior commanders killed in Israel’s attacks on Iran in June. Qassem Suleimani, the feared and renowned commander of the Quds Force, was killed by a US drone strike in 2020.