IRGC-Qods Force Archives

Analysis: Unpacking Iran’s counterintelligence apparatus

Janatan Sayeh | February 6, 2025

Iran’s intelligence network is not a monolithic entity but a web of competing and cooperating factions that execute the regime’s global ambitions. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Quds Force, and Ministry of Intelligence each play distinct yet overlapping roles in conducting assassinations, abductions, and sabotage operations worldwide. While institutional rivalries persist, their shared objective—suppressing dissent and expanding Iran’s geopolitical reach—ensures continued collaboration.

Tehran’s pawns in Iraq

Bill Roggio | January 23, 2025

Bill is joined by show regular Edmund Fitton-Brown to discuss Edmund’s latest analysis for FDD’s Long War Journal: The role of Iraqi Shia militias as proxies in Iran’s Axis of Resistance.

Analysis: Hezbollah’s Unit 4400

David Daoud & Ahmad Sharawi | November 5, 2024

Israel has focused on degrading Hezbollah’s Unit 4400, which is tasked with supplying the group with weapons and funds. Israel’s spate of attacks has impacted the unit’s ability to function and Hezbollah’s battle-readiness during the current campaign. However, it remains too soon to determine the long-term impact on Hezbollah’s organizational integrity.

Iraqi government ‘condemns’ retaliatory U.S. airstrikes on Hezbollah Brigades

Bill Roggio | December 27, 2023

Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al Sudani also denounced militia attacks on U.S. forces, however he is powerless to stop them. The Iranian-backed militias report to Sudani, but do not follow his orders. They are loyal to Iran.

Israeli airstrike eliminates key Iranian general in Syria

Joe Truzman & Bill Roggio | December 26, 2023

Iran has described Razi Mousavi as “a veteran advisor of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps” and a one of “the companions of the assassinated general Qassem Soleimani.”

U.S. military kills Hezbollah Brigades fighter in strike in Iraq

Joe Truzman & Bill Roggio | November 21, 2023

Unlike three previous strikes by the U.S. military which were intended to deter the militias from attacking U.S. forces, today’s strike targeted a Hezbollah Brigades team that had targeted a U.S. base in western Iraq.

Israel ‘at war’ after Hamas-led terror assault kills more than 700

Joe Truzman & Bill Roggio | October 8, 2023

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps gave the go-ahead more than a week ago for the attack, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Analysis: Iranian state textbooks incite terrorism

David Andrew Weinberg | March 5, 2021

Unsurprisingly, Iran’s official government textbooks continue to incite hatred, extremism, and terrorism.

Ep. 35 – The Shadow War Inside Iran

Thomas Joscelyn & Bill Roggio | December 11, 2020

FDD senior fellow Behnam Ben Taleblu joins the podcast to discuss recent assassinations inside Iran and the state of the Iranian regime’s various proxy wars.

Analysis: The IRGC runs for high office in Tehran

Behnam Ben Taleblu | October 19, 2020

63-year-old IRGC Brigadier General Hossein Dehghan is eying the Iranian presidency. If his candidacy is approved and he is elected in 2021, Dehghan will be the Islamic Republic’s first military president, a development with significant implications for Iranian domestic politics and foreign policy.

Iranian-founded Afghan Shia militia celebrates 7th anniversary in Aleppo

Caleb Weiss & Joe Truzman | May 12, 2020

Since its founding in 2013, the Iranian-led Afghan Shia militia has been at the forefront of most major battles in the defense of the Assad regime.

U.S. offers $10 million reward for Hezbollah’s commander in Iraq

Bill Roggio | April 11, 2020

Hezbollah operates closely in Iraq alongside Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps to prop up and support Shia militias hostile to the U.S. and the West. Muhammad Kawtharani has played a key role in Hezbollah’s operations.

US and partner nations seek to disrupt Iran-Taliban nexus

Thomas Joscelyn | October 23, 2018

The Terrorist Financing Targeting Center (TFTC) designated nine individuals who are undermining the Afghan government. The nine include six Taliban leaders, two officials in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and a narcotics trafficker based in Pakistan.