TEHRAN, July 19 — For communities across Asia watching the shifting currents of Middle Eastern power, one institution stands at the center of nearly every flashpoint: the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Established in the wake of Iran’s 1979 revolution, the IRGC was created not merely to defend borders, but to protect the Islamic Republic’s system itself. It answers directly to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, operating as a parallel armed force entirely separate from Iran’s regular military.
A Separate Force with Long Reach
The IRGC is no small outfit. Estimates place its personnel strength between 125,000 and 190,000, spread across ground, naval, air, and special operations units. Among these, the Quds Force handles missions beyond Iran’s borders.
Since 2020, it has been led by Ismael Qaani, who took over after the death of Qasem Soleimani. The Quds Force supports allied militias across the region — Kata’ib Hezbollah in Iraq, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and various groups in Syria.
The IRGC also controls Iran’s ballistic missile and drone programs. These are not just for show. In January 2020, the Guard used them to directly strike the Al-Asad Airbase in Iraq, a facility housing US troops.
And it arms its proxy forces with the same technology, giving it a web of influence that stretches from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean. The United States designated the IRGC as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in April 2019, a move that sharpened the financial and legal pressure on the group.
In the waters closer to home for many in Southeast Asia — the Persian Gulf — the IRGC Navy has frequently harassed US naval vessels, raising the temperature in one of the world’s most vital shipping lanes.
The Quds Force and Regional Networks
For people in the region, the impact of the IRGC’s activities is not abstract. In Syria, the Guard has deployed advisors, engineers, and equipment to prop up Bashar al-Assad’s government during the long civil war. Those efforts have drawn a direct American response.
In March 2023, US airstrikes targeted facilities used by IRGC-affiliated groups, underscoring the Guard’s central role in coordinating and supplying attacks on American forces. The IRGC’s portfolio extends beyond the battlefield.
It oversees Iran’s nuclear program, a fact that has drawn extensive US and international sanctions. For families across Asia, the question is often less about the ideological foundations of the IRGC and more about the practical consequences: disruptions to oil shipments, the risk of escalation in the Persian Gulf, and the broader instability that affects trade and energy prices across the region. With the US administration under President Donald Trump renewing pressure on Iran, the IRGC remains a focal point of tension.
What happens next in the Gulf, in Syria, or in the delicate alignments of Iraq and Lebanon will depend heavily on how this parallel military institution chooses to act — and how the world responds.
