How is the Guard different from other parts of the military?

While the army defends Iranian territory, the Guard was set up to safeguard against internal uprisings and threats from ideological opponents, within or outside the country. Guard members view themselves as keepers of Iran’s revolutionary flame.

The Guard is best known for the power it projects outside Iran in making foreign policy through training militias in foreign countries and undertaking operations such as fighting the Islamic State, the Sunni extremist militant group regarded as a terrorist organization by virtually all countries.

The Guard also differs from other branches of the armed forces in the strong influence it wields over who gains political power. The Guard controls directly and indirectly billions of dollars in contracts in construction, electricity and engineering, as well as in other strategic fields such as telecommunications and media. Many large companies are either tied to individuals in the Guard or run by former members.

What is the Guard’s Al Quds Force?

The most elite members of the Guard are in the Al Quds Force, numbering a few thousand, whose work is focused mostly outside Iran. Its members are believed to carry out clandestine operations including assassinations, and are experts in asymmetric warfare. They have trained nonstate actors in foreign countries including Hamas in the Palestinian territories, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Shiite militias in Syria and Iraq.

The Al Quds Force was designated as a supporter of foreign terrorist organizations, including the Taliban and others, more than 10 years ago by the Treasury Department.

What attacks have been linked to the Al Quds Force?

They include an attempted assassination of the Saudi ambassador to Washington; the attempted assassination of an Israeli diplomat in New Delhi; and the capture and killing of five American military personnel by an Iraqi militia in a 2007 attack in Karbala, Iraq. The Al Quds Force also is thought to have initially supplied and then helped train Iraqis to manufacture roadside bombs that could destroy armored vehicles used by American soldiers in Iraq.