Formed in the immediate aftermath of the 1979 revolution, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was created in part to safeguard the new political order against the possibility of a counter-coup by remnants of the old imperial armed forces, and its Persian name, Sepah-e Pasdaran-e Enghelab-e Eslami, translates roughly to "Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution." The organization played a major role in the grinding eight-year war with Iraq during the 1980s, an experience that shaped much of its subsequent institutional culture and its emphasis on asymmetric and unconventional warfare. It is closely affiliated with the Basij, a large volunteer paramilitary force that falls under IRGC command and has historically been mobilized for everything from wartime operations to domestic crowd control. Various branches and subsidiary programs associated with the organization, including its ballistic missile and space launch programs, have been the subject of extensive international sanctions over the past two decades. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is constitutionally established as a parallel military force alongside Iran's regular armed forces (Artesh), with its own ground, air, and naval branches, and answers directly to the Supreme Leader rather than through the standard Ministry of Defense chain. Personnel are formally salaried state employees, but the IRGC also controls a vast conglomerate of construction, telecommunications, and energy enterprises (notably Khatam al-Anbiya), and its Quds Force conducts operations abroad through informally organized proxy militias rather than uniformed units.
