Iran nukes to be controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
WASHINGTON -- Iran's elite military force will be assigned control over any nuclear weapons arsenal, a report projected.
A report to U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates asserted that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or Pasdaran, would be granted responsibility over Teheran's nuclear arsenal. The report, drafted by the Rand Corp., said IRGC has already assumed the lead role in Iran's ballistic missile program.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps AP
"Were Iran to develop and field nuclear weapons, oversight of their storage, training, and deployment infrastructure would likely fall to the IRGC," the report said.
Titled "The Rise of Pasdaran," the report outlined IRGC's position in Iran's security hierarchy. The report said IRGC, with 120,000 members, deploys an army, navy and air force as well as rapid-reaction forces designed to quell unrest.
IRGC has established a range of fronts to import components for Iran's nuclear and missile programs. The report said IRGC operates companies responsible for both military and dual-use production and acquisition.
"The IRGC has primacy over Iranian unconventional warfare options," the report said. "It maintains tight control over the development and deployment of Iran's ballistic missiles, and it wields an external terrorism capability through its elite Qods Force."
The report said IRGC coordinates with Iran's conventional military. |The corps has come under an integrated command at the General Staff level with Iran's conventional armed forces.
At the same time, IRGC continues to compete with the Interior Ministry and Intelligence Ministry. The Intelligence Ministry, currently undergoing a reshuffle, has been commanding a force of 30,000 responsible for foreign and domestic intelligence.
The Interior Ministry operates Iran's paramilitary LEF, said to contain 120,000 personnel. LEF, said to have improved over the last decade, focuses on border protection, homeland security and battles corruption.
IRGC, however, remains dominant in Iran's security constellation. The report cited the Basij militia, with up to 12 million members. Basij has sought to portray itself as the equivalent of Lebanon's Hizbullah and focuses on crushing dissent and promoting rural reconstruction.
"Today, the IRGC and Basij conduct regular paramilitary training throughout Iran for both active and potential members, drawn from a broad spectrum of Iranian society -- ranging from the rural classes and provincial tribes to students and factory workers," the report said. "About 600,000 of the three million active members of the Basij are part of armed paramilitary units that regularly take part in this military training, which includes military exercises and drills."
IRGC has drafted a guerrilla warfare strategy for Basij in case of any invasion of Iran. The strategy envisions that Basij would attack the rear lines of any advancing enemy and make occupation untenable.
"Much of this strategy hinges on indoctrinating Basij and partisan units with superior morale or 'strategic patience,' which the IRGC leadership sees as the ultimate center of gravity on the battlefield," the report said.
"The lessons of the 2006 Lebanon war appear to have shaped this thinking: The IRGC often paints the Basij as roughly analogous to the Lebanese Hizbullah in their ability to mobilize popular sympathy and wage a sophisticated guerrilla campaign against a better-equipped adversary."
That makes one big assumption
That there will be a conquering army on your ground.
I don't think that's how this one works out.
This ends with Persia back in the time of Astyages looking for help from the UN