How Iran's Revolutionary Guard became a powerful force within the country's theocracy

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has grown into a powerful force within the country's theocracy, answering only to its supreme leader and overseeing its ballistic missile arsenal and launching attacks overseas.

The force was in the spotlight on Thursday as the European Union moved to declare it a terrorist organization over its part in the bloody crackdown on nationwide protests in Iran earlier this month.

Here's what to know about the Guard.

Born out of a revolution

The Guard rose out of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution as a force meant to protect the country's Shiite cleric-overseen government and later became enshrined in its constitution. It operated parallel to Iran's regular armed forces, growing in prominence and power during a long and ruinous war with Iraq in the 1980s.

Though it faced possible disbandment after the war, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei granted it powers to expand into private enterprise, allowing the force to thrive.

The Guard runs a massive construction company called Khatam al-Anbia and has firms that also build roads, man ports, run telecommunication networks and even offer laser eye surgery.

Foreign operations are key for the Guard

The Guard's expeditionary Quds Force was key in creating what Iran describes as its “Axis of Resistance” against Israel and the United States. It backed Syria's former President Bashar Assad, Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group, Yemen's Houthi rebels and other groups in the region, growing in power in the wake of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

U.S. officials say the Guard taught Iraqi militants how to manufacture and use especially deadly roadside bombs against U.S. troops there. The Quds Force, as well as Iranian intelligence agencies, are believed to have hired criminal gangs and others to target dissidents and Iran's perceived enemies abroad.

Since the latest Israel-Hamas war, Israel has arrested citizens it has accused of receiving orders from Iran to surveil targets or conduct vandalism. Iran has denied being involved in those plots. The Guard is also believed to be heavily involved in smuggling throughout the Middle East.

Guard's intelligence arm is tied to arrests of foreigners

The Guard also operates its own intelligence services and has been behind a series of arrests and convictions of dual nationals and those with Western ties on espionage charges in closed hearings.

Western nations and others described Iran as using those prisoners as bargaining chips in negotiations, particularly over its nuclear program.

War with Israel puts new pressure on the Guard

The Guard's carefully laid “Axis of Resistance” has faced its greatest challenge in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza. The Palestinian militant Hamas group is among those backed by Iran. Israel is still battling Hamas in Gaza even as it has targeted other Iranian-backed groups, decimating Hezbollah and repeatedly targeting the Houthis in Yemen.

In Syria, Assad's government fell in December 2024, taking away a key ally for Tehran and the Guard. Israel and Iran exchanged missile fire, something overseen by the Guard.

In June, Israel launched a massive airstrike campaign targeting Iran. In its first day, those strikes killed top generals in the Guard, throwing the force into disarray. Israeli attacks also destroyed ballistic missile sites and launchers, as well as Guard-manned air defense systems.

Crackdown on recent protests

In Iran, one of the main ways its theocracy can squash demonstrations is through the Basij, the Guard’s all-volunteer arm.

Videos from the protests that began on Dec. 28 show Basij members holding long guns, batons and pellet guns. Their forces have been seen beating protesters and chasing them through the streets. One well-known Basij commander even went on state television to warn parents to keep their children at home as he called for the force's members to assemble to put down the demonstrations.