The Rise of the Guards
The early years of the Guards were filled with the jingoism and martial pageantry marshalled to rally support for the war against Iraq. The piety, sacrifice, and courage of the Guards and, in particular, the Basij were celebrated throughout Iran during this conflict. The Basij were initially an independent force that drew poor, often religious, and resolute young men to fight for the revolution. Accounts of pious boys charging into battlements armed with a rifle and a Koran filled classrooms and adorned the walls of buildings in all large cities. But this image blackened in the early 1990s. The Basij were structurally merged into the Guards and repurposed to purge Western influences from Iranian society. Rough-hewn young men armed with truncheons and whips, the Basij began to brutalize their countrymen.
The revolution had designs on the world. Ayatollah Khomeini ordered the Guards to implement a phased global strategy to eliminate domestic enemies, expand Iranian regional influence, and, finally, achieve world supremacy. The Guards would play prominent roles in all three phases. In the first phase, the Basij would serve as the Guards’ domestic arm, tasked with subduing and destroying domestic enemies. In the second phase, the Guards, particularly the Qods Force, would infiltrate Shia communities in neighboring states. In the third phase, the Guards would project power worldwide. From the beginning, nonconformist intellectuals in Iran faced inescapable choices. They had to either flee, support the regime, or refrain from criticizing the new system. Those with sufficient resources or contacts in the West were sometimes left to build new lives for themselves and their families.
Some public intellectuals rallied behind the revolution. Many kept quiet, and some actively tried to subvert an authoritarian regime they grew to loathe. Other free spirits went underground or abroad. Others, still, were swept into the social whirlwind and killed randomly by Basij. Iranians who resisted the dour clerical rule risked beatings, termination from employment, imprisonment, or death. The Guards killed some opponents of Khomeini who lived abroad. Some Iranians killed themselves.
Homa Darabi, a prominent American-trained woman physician, protested the treatment of girls and women by setting herself on fire in 1994 while shouting, “Death to Tyranny! Long live freedom! Long live Iran!” Other protesters were killed in the streets or in special cells in prisons. Others disappeared. The Guards and the MOIS deployed packs of assassins abroad to
kill those deemed hostile to the revolution. As the IRGC tried to eliminate its perceived enemies at home and abroad by imprisoning or killing them, it also inculcated new generations of Iranians with ideological fervor. Iranian leaders are determined to develop indoctrinated and religiously committed leaders to pass the revolutionary spirit on to future generations. As children move from primary through secondary to higher education, they are trained and monitored by the Guards. After they leave school or university, those students who participated in Basij after-school activities and organizations are offered preferred employment opportunities. As in the Soviet Union, those who have proved the most loyal are offered fast-track positions in the government and intelligence services. These posts often serve as springboards for commercial opportunities, as the Guards control many firms.
Many Iranians want nothing to do with any element of the Guards and try to avoid them. Some resist passively by refusing to identify political dissidents; flouting laws enforced by the Basij, particularly those governing social behavior; listening to and watching foreign broadcasts; pretending not to hear the Basij when they shout commands in the street, or giving them dagger looks; and avoiding religious centers. Some Iranians engage in active resistance, such as marching in street demonstrations, encouraging opposition on social media, proffering unorthodox religious views, and, at times, physically attacking Iranian officials. When they are caught, they are harassed, beaten, or carted off to prison.
Iran’s foreign policy is implemented, in part, by the Guards. Ruling mullahs call Iran the epicenter of the Muslim world and feel morally compelled to spread revolutionary Shia Islam globally. The Guards Qods Force is Iran’s direct mechanism to project Iranian power in the Greater Middle East and elsewhere. Since 1979, the Islamic Republic has supported Shia militias abroad. By 2018, Iran controlled or heavily influenced four capitals of Middle Eastern states—Damascus, Beirut, Baghdad, and Sanaa.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has described the twenty-first-century situation in Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria as signs that God favors Iran and that “God will assist you (Iranians) with victory.” The Guards control divisions of foreign fighters, much as the Soviets commanded international brigades during the Spanish Civil War and the Nazis commanded SS divisions during World War II, some of which were composed of foreign fighters and others of purely German personnel.
The Guards control a vast economic empire. Guards Inc. is slang for the Guards-controlled charities, or bonyads, as well as docks, banking, and construction enterprises. This has suppressed entrepreneurial spirit and impeded sustained, broad-based economic growth. Today, Iran is beset by economic predicaments and social divisions. Like leaders in the Soviet Union, the Guards control much of Iran’s environmental and financial services, directly owning most of the country’s natural wealth, particularly fossil fuels. The Guards also control banking, creating vast inefficiencies. The IRGC holds a near-monopoly over financial control in many sectors.
As in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, the intelligence and security services oversee the development of Iranians from the cradle. The Basij molds children to remain devoted to the ideals of the revolution. As grade schoolers become middle schoolers, the girls are guided toward domesticity and the boys toward martial and religious pursuits. As they grow older, the better prospects are selected for university places and then for the Guards themselves. Following graduation, they are awarded preferential jobs. There is also a career path for laborers in the Guards and the Basij.
