Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)

Iran created the IRGC in May 1979 as a parallel, ideological force answerable to the Supreme Leader rather than the elected government, deliberately kept separate from the regular army, the Artesh; the split still holds in the current war, with the Artesh running its own, separately numbered strike campaign against Gulf bases while the Guard claims its own attacks under its own command. Washington, London, Ottawa and Jerusalem designate the IRGC a terrorist organisation.

Beyond the battlefield the corps runs a parallel state within the state: its Quds Force arms and directs allied militias from Lebanon to Yemen, its conglomerates reach into construction, energy and banking, and its Basij militia enforces domestic order at home, the same Basij that marched on Iran's own foreign ministry in mid-June to protest the Ceasefire terms.

Its authority has widened since Israeli strikes killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on 28 February 2026: his son and successor, Mojtaba Khamenei, has kept a low public profile amid reports he too was wounded, leaving the IRGC to run the war, Foreign Policy and Hormuz enforcement with Foreign Minister Araghchi sidelined from the negotiating track. Its Decentralised Mosaic Defence, devolving launch authority to autonomous provincial units, let it absorb repeated strikes on its own commanders, including the March killing of Navy chief Alireza Tangsiri, replaced by Rear Admiral Ali Azmaei with no published decree, while its self-declared control over Hormuz transit makes it the single most consequential actor in whether the strait stays open.