Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)

When US-Israeli strikes began on 28 February 2026, the IRGC activated a pre-planned Decentralised Mosaic Defence, devolving launch authority to 31 autonomous provincial units to prevent command decapitation. It sustained 70+ waves of Operation True Promise 4 through late March despite losing its Navy Commander Admiral Tangsiri, intelligence chief Behnam Rezaei, and Ground Forces chief Mohammad Pakpour to Israeli strikes in a single week. By 12 April it declared the Strait of Hormuz would "never return to its previous status" and began operating a customs authority charging $1 per barrel in yuan or stablecoins. Major General Ahmad Vahidi consolidated control of both Iran's military posture and its negotiating delegation by 22 April, sidelining Foreign Minister Araghchi: the corps reversed the ministry's Hormuz reopening announcement within hours, then seized three vessels the following week.

The IRGC's wartime trajectory continued through late May and into June. On 25 May 2026, CENTCOM struck two IRGC mine-laying boats and a SAM site at Bandar Abbas; the IRGC responded the next day by claiming it had shot down a US MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Persian Gulf and fired on an F-35 and an RQ-4. CENTCOM issued no confirmation. On 27 May, IRGC adviser Ali Shamkhani called Trump's demands over Iran's nuclear programme a "fantasy", publicly contradicting Foreign Minister Araghchi's concurrent Doha negotiations. On 7 June 2026, the corps fired at least 10 Ballistic Missiles at Ramat David Airbase in northern Israel, its first direct salvo onto Israeli soil in this phase, framed by Mohsen Rezaei as a warning; all were intercepted and no casualties reported. The same day, an Iranian parliamentarian publicly confirmed the IRGC charges $1.5-2 million per ship for Strait of Hormuz transit, collected in barter goods and cryptocurrency as a dollar-sanctions bypass. The corps simultaneously conducted a domestic counter-insurgency raid in Saravan, Sistan-Baluchistan, killing four anti-government fighters and seizing Starlink satellite terminals, signalling its awareness of satellite communications as an opposition coordination tool. With Khamenei communicating only through couriered handwritten notes, the IRGC remains the only functioning decision-making authority in Iran.

Founded in May 1979 to protect Iran's revolutionary system, the IRGC expanded over four decades from ideological guardian to economic empire, controlling an estimated 10-20% of Iran's GDP through construction, energy, and banking conglomerates. Its Quds Force ran proxy networks across Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and Gaza; its Basij paramilitary controlled domestic dissent. The corps is formally under the Supreme Leader, but in practice operates with growing autonomy from Iran's elected institutions.