Common Questions

What is the IRGC Quds Force?: The IRGC Quds Force is Iran's extraterritorial special operations branch, responsible for training, equipping, and directing proxy militias — including Hezbollah, Hamas, Kataib Hezbollah, and Ansar Allah — across the Middle East.
Who commands the IRGC Quds Force?: Esmail Qaani has commanded the Quds Force since Qasem Soleimani was killed by a US drone strike in January 2020. In 2026 Qaani was reported detained by the IRGC's own intelligence wing on espionage suspicions.
What happened to the Quds Force in Lebanon?: Quds Force officers embedded with Hezbollah in Beirut fled their positions as Israeli forces systematically targeted the network, ending Iran's four-decade physical presence in Lebanon.
Did the IRGC threaten tourist sites?: Iran's military spokesman Gen Abolfazl Shekarchi warned that tourist sites worldwide would not be SAFE, a threat presumed to be routed through the Quds Force's global proxy and operative networks.
What proxies does the Quds Force run?: The Quds Force's axis of resistance network includes Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq, and Ansar Allah (Houthis) in Yemen.
Who commands the IRGC Quds Force in 2026?: Esmail Qaani has commanded the Quds Force since Qasem Soleimani was killed by a US drone strike in January 2020. In 2026 Qaani was reported detained by the IRGC's own intelligence wing on espionage suspicions; his status remains unconfirmed.Source: event
What happened to the Quds Force network in Lebanon?: Quds Force officers embedded with Hezbollah in Beirut fled their positions as Israeli forces systematically targeted the network in early 2026, including the killing of five named commanders in the Ramada Hotel strike. By March 2026 Hezbollah was operating independently of Quds Force direction.Source: event
When was the Quds Force founded and by whom?: The Quds Force grew out of IRGC units that fought in the Iran-Iraq War in the early 1980s. It became a distinct extraterritorial branch under the IRGC and was built into its current regional network by Qasem Soleimani, who commanded it from 1998 until 2020.
Is the Quds Force a terrorist organisation?: The United States designated the entire IRGC, including the Quds Force, as a foreign terrorist organisation in April 2019 — the first time Washington applied the designation to a component of a foreign government's official military. The EU and UK list the IRGC but classifications vary by jurisdiction.

Background

The IRGC Quds Force is the extraterritorial operations branch of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, responsible for training, equipping, and commanding proxy militias across the Middle East. Since the 2026 conflict began, the force has suffered its most serious institutional crisis: commander Esmail Qaani was reported detained on suspicion of espionage for Mossad, dozens of officers embedded with Hezbollah in Beirut fled Israeli targeting operations, and five named Quds Force commanders were killed in the IDF's Ramada Hotel strike. By late March, Hezbollah was committing 30,000 fighters independently of Quds Force direction , and Unit 840 commander Asghar Bakeri was reported killed in an April strike on Asaluyeh .

The Quds Force was formed in the early 1980s from IRGC units fighting in the Iran-Iraq War and grew into Iran's primary instrument of strategic depth under Qasem Soleimani, who commanded the force from 1998 until his assassination by US drone strike in January 2020. Under Soleimani the force built the Axis of Resistance: Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, Kataib Hezbollah and the Popular Mobilisation Units in Iraq, and Ansar Allah (Houthis) in Yemen. The US designated the IRGC a foreign terrorist organisation in 2019 and Soleimani's killing was the single largest decapitation strike against any Iranian institution since the 1979 revolution. Qaani, a veteran of the Iran-Iraq War and former deputy commander, inherited a network that had already demonstrated the capacity for autonomous action.

The force's wider significance lies in how FAR its proxy architecture outlasts central direction. Lebanon's Hezbollah outfired Iran against Israel through March 2026 even as Quds Force command authority fragmented . The IDF's 7 May strike on Radwan Force commander Ahmed Ali Balout in Dahiyeh — the first Israeli airstrike on Beirut since the Trump Ceasefire of 16 April — confirmed Israeli targeting of proxy-network commanders continues even under nominal ceasefire . Whether the Quds Force can reconstitute operational command from Tehran, or whether the Lebanon network now operates as a fully independent actor, is the central unanswered question of the 2026 conflict.

Source Material

Quds Force: Iran's elite foreign operations unit Quds Force — Wikipedia

How the World Sees Them

Iran

The Quds Force is Iran's primary instrument of strategic depth, distributing military capacity across neighbouring states to deter direct attack on the homeland. The collapse of its Lebanon network and reported detention of Qaani represent the largest single degradation of that deterrent since the force was established in the 1980s.

Israel

Israel's targeting of Quds Force officers in Beirut and across the Axis of Resistance is the operational expression of a decapitation strategy pursued since the 2024 Hezbollah leadership strikes. The May 2026 killing of Radwan commander Balout during nominal ceasefire confirms Israel views proxy-network commanders as legitimate targets regardless of diplomatic status.

Lebanon

Beirut has always tolerated the Quds Force's presence as a fait accompli while officially denying sovereign endorsement of its activities. President Aoun's call for Israeli talks signals the Lebanese state is attempting to reclaim that space, but whether Hezbollah's military command accepts Beirut's authority remains unanswered.

Saudi Arabia

Riyadh views the Quds Force as the primary enabler of Iranian influence in Iraq, Yemen, and the Gulf, and has spent a decade building counter-proxy capacity. The 2026 degradation of the Quds Force network is welcomed in Riyadh, though Saudi analysts assess Ansar Allah in Yemen now operates with sufficient autonomous capacity that Iranian direction is no longer required.

United States

Washington designated the IRGC and Quds Force as foreign terrorist organisations in 2019, making Quds Force operatives legitimate targets under US rules of engagement. The Beirut network collapse is an outcome the US has sought since Soleimani's 2020 killing; the strategic concern is whether the proxy architecture reconstitutes faster than it can be dismantled.