Following is a thread of quotes from #TheGlobalJigsaw latest episode on the #IRGC, #Quds force, #Basij militias - and th ideological blueprint for #Iran so called Axis of Resistance. Whole episode here:
Another #Iranian - the current mayor of the capital #Tehran - put it even more bluntly. He said that the Islamic Republic now ruled over four Arab capitals: #Baghdad , #Beirut , #Damascus and #Sana’a.
It was a #Libyan journalist in response to #Bush 's axis of evil' speech who said that these three countries instead formed an axis of resistance because they were against colonial and American interests and that phrase went on to be picked up by Iranian media.
But in #Iran you already had the catch all term of resistance and the Resistance Front, which were used to describe something that already existed - An #Iran cultivated alliance of like minded states and groups ranged against #Israel and the #US.
the Islamic Republic was founded on the basis of a revolutionary ideology. But this ideology was also kind of limited in its ability to be exported by the fact that It was formed by a specific minority sect of Islam in the Middle East.
(cont.)
the one way that the Islamic Republic had of accruing regional legitimacy across the sectarian divide was its position against the #US but primarily against #Israel Aside from weakening and ultimately disestablishing the #Israeli state, what they want is the withdrawal of US troops in the region. But what they want to do regionally is increase the temperature of conflict in order to achieve these goals,
without provoking an all out war which #Iran knows that it wouldn't survive in case of say the unlikely prospects of an #American invasion.
Islamic Republic officials want to abolish the state of #Israel by holding a referendum of the #Palestinians. But the understood means to get there is by military resistance as by backing #Palestinian factions, whatever kind of factions that can effectively defeat Israel militarily and restore a one state solution.
Who are the footsoldiers tasked with the mission to redraw the map of the Middle East? the #IRGC , #Quds force, the #Basij - they are all part of this jigsaw.
The IRGC or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard corps -and the clue is in the name,- exist alongside the regular #Iranian military. The regular military is constitutionally tasked with protecting the territorial integrity of #Iran. But the IRGC Is actually tasked with protecting the Islamic revolution itself.
the #IRGC was set up in 1979, directly loyal to the Supreme Leader, formed initially out of street fighters, street paramilitaries. They fought alongside the regular Iranian military when it came to the #Iran - #Iraq war from 1980 to 1988. what they're most famous for is for the tactic that they innovated of human wave attacks on #Iraqi troops. So you can imagine these waves of religiously inspired #Iranian teenagers running at well armed Iraqi lines of defence,
(cont.)
overwhelming superior armaments with just sheer numbers and determination.
The #IRGC now is formally divided into eight bodies. But it's got a really deep and complicated footprint, far beyond its official military remit. In terms of the #Iranian economy and in terms of unofficial figures that accounts for 20-30 % of #Iran 's GDP. And this runs from just its own military output to key economic sectors, including construction, energy
The #IRGC ’s budget is three times that of the actual #Iranian military. It's because it's the main vehicle of Iranian influence abroad. It has created its own kind of pattern of institutions.
We can see these ideologically driven paramilitary bodies in weak and divided states, funded by the informal economy, independent of any kind of oversight or authority, apart from the #IRGC itself and the supreme leader in #Tehran
Distinct amongst these branches is the #Quds Force, which within the #IRGC itself, is tasked with spreading the influence of #Iran and the Islamic Revolution abroad
Quds In #Persian means #Jerusalem. And it is clear that the ultimate aim of these alliances, at least rhetorically for #Iran, is to -in their terms,- restore historic #Palestine and destroy the state of #Israel.
Before we trace the Quds Force' influence abroad, let us have another quick stop in #Iran to look at the #IRGC ’s footprint at home:
The #Basij is part of the IRGC, but we can understand that as being almost, let's say, the ground troops of the Islamic revolution, of the Islamic Republic. Its a volunteer paramilitary force charged with maintaining the domestic front. If you're a member of the Basij, it doesn't necessarily mean that you're working full time for them,
it means the Basij have access to welfare schemes or employment opportunities that a regular #Iranian wouldn't have. membership figures fluctuate in the millions (there's no official record), but in terms of active #Basij members, who'd worked day to day, the number is estimated to be about a hundred thousand. They are involved in all aspects of life - They organise religious events. They do charity, disaster relief. what they are most notorious for is the suppression of protests in Iran
cont
the #Quds force was not a household name until a few years ago - they emerged into the spotlight under the command of Qasem #Soleimani - he was a construction worker at the time in Kerman, with little formal schooling, but thanks to the revolution he became an #IRGC paramilitary. He was involved both in the suppression of the #Kurdish revolts in ethnic Kurdish regions of #Iran in 1979, but also gained status as a kind of a war hero in the Iran-Iraq war
He was already a notorious figure around the time of the Arab Spring and the outbreak of the #Syrian civil war.
In #Syria first it was #Soleimani 's role in ensuring that the #IRGC propped up the govt of Bashar al #Assad after the outbreak of civil war - he reportedly personally convinced the supreme leader, who he had a direct line to, to intervene in Syria on Assad's behalf. And then again, reportedly goes to #Moscow to convince #Putin to intervene in Syria on Assad’s behalf.
(cont.)
In 1999 #Iran had a hostile neighbour to its east in the Islamic Emirate of the #Taliban in #Afghanistan. And it was there that #Soleimani , after 911, used the #IRGC ’s knowledge of Taliban bases to help the #US when it came to the invasion in 2001. Because although the IRGC was rhetorically opposed to the US, it was the Taliban that posed the more present danger. Although the IRGC went on to cooperate with various factions of the Taliban against the Republic in Afghanistan after 2001.
cont
#soleimani was seen as defending #Iran on its frontlines in #Iraq against an extremist #Sunni group - #ISIS#IS#daesh which was dedicated to the murder of #Shia Muslims, wherever they could find them. there have already been several years of speculation whether in the #Iranian press that Soleimani would actually run for President
When he was assassinated we saw a genuine huge wave of mourning in Iran, his funeral was apparently the biggest mass gathering recorded in Iranian history
cont
#Soleimani ’s assassination seems to have given a new impetus to the so-called #AxisOfResistance - the network of groups in the region doing #ran ’s bidding. This network is far from homogenous - each group has its own agenda.
These range from pure proxies like some #Iraqi militias and #Afghan and #Pakistani#Shia mercenary groups, which are the absolute creations of the #IRGC with little independent decision making power and ideologically absolutely line of the Islamic republic.
(cont.)
from the lense of the #IRGC in particular what these groups and allies provide is a screen of responsibility - it provides a means of plausible deniability for #Iran to both engage its enemies militarily and also deny the kind of direct responsibility that perhaps could provoke a broader conflagration.
In the second part of this mini series on the #AxisOfResistance we’ll go to more #BBCMonitoring colleagues - to see how groups linked to the Resistance serve #Iran ’s interests.
#Hezbollah - it means the party of God in Arabic, which is an indication of its guiding religious ideology and its one of the frontline actors in the so called #AxisOfResistance and it's often described as the jewel in the crown of the groups backed by #Iran
Iran has been said to have provided lots of support for #Hamas… but also has always been a kind of outlier. In this kind of axis of resistance… A marriage of convenience of the enemy of the enemy is my friend.
The #Houthis are definitely backed by #Iran . We've also seen reports that #IRGC advisers are in #Yemen . But again in terms of the extent to which they take orders or not from Iran is not quite clear.
It quickly gets very complicated because here we're talking about literally dozens of entities. they've entrenched themselves within #Iraqi society. It's a very dangerous situation going forwards where the army does not have the monopoly on the use of force.
(cont.)
The #IRGC is essentially the life saver of the #Syrian government. You can't really look at it any other way. But #Assad now has oil rich Gulf friends: #Saudi Arabia, the #UAE Iran cannot allow the Saudis to take a space If it thinks it has a chance to get in there.
The #october7th attack was apparently planned by #Hamas alone and not just not as Hamas as a whole, but specifically the military wing of Hamas within the #Gaza Strip plan this entirely secretly and launched this attack without help - from the reports that we have from #Iran or any of their allies and partners in the region. But the conflict that preceded from that has now involve that #AxisOfResistance in the first time in what is essentially a regional war
against #Israel.
#Iran is in the dangerous position of being confronted with its own rhetoric - decades of
anti #Israel rhetoric, as well as actual arms and coordination funding to groups that also professed the same kind of anti-Israel rhetoric, including actual #Palestinian factions of Iran have now led to this multi front war that has been sparked by the original #october7th#Hamas attack
what has happened since #october7th, since the heating up of this regional war involving almost all of #Iran 's allies in the region - what we have seen is Iran’s pronounced unwillingness to get involved in a direct confrontation with #Israel . So while it might have this rhetoric of the former President #Ahmedinejad said "to wipe Israel from the pages of time", it is unwilling to risk any kind of conflict that could draw the U S into a direct conflict on #Iranian soil.
In the last few years we've seen the two leading #Gulf monarchies in the #UAE and #Saudi leading the march towards normalisation with #Israel and this is where #Iran comes in and this is where it kind of disrupts what's already a fragile environment because when it comes to the #Palestinian cause this is perhaps the one single unifying cause across the #MENA region itself.
@fulelo Getting ready to listen to the podcast, but thank you for this thread. It's a great explainer, and I think most Westerners are not aware of the complexity of these groups, their interrelationships, or their histories.
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