Iran Protests Crisis: How strong is Iranian Guards? Can it face US military?

After President Donald Trump cautioned that the US military could take action in Iran if the government further resorts to a crackdown on the protesters, and the Masoud Pezeshkian-led government threatened to retaliate, the big questions looming large are how strong the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is and whether they could resist the US military, at least to some extent. Though the IRGC is not a regular military, it is more powerful than any military could be. The IRGC is an elite military and security force in Iran that operates separately from the regular Iranian Army and answers directly to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It has its own ground forces, navy, air component, intelligence arms, and missile forces.

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, IRGC

Established by Ruhollah Khomeini as a military branch in May 1979 in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution, the IRGC is a multi-service primary branch of the Iranian Armed Forces. Also known as the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, it is under the direct control of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. With its own ground forces, navy, air component, intelligence arms, and missile forces, it has around 125,000 personnel. With the help of the powerful volunteer militia, Basij, which is under its control, it can mobilise hundreds of thousands of people in case of an emergency. 

(Iran Revolutionary Guards Corpse)

Not being a regular army, the IRGC has developed itself as an expert in asymmetric warfare, and its operations include checking smuggling, control of the Strait of Hormuz, and resistance operations. Its main objective is to complement the more traditional role of the regular Iranian military, and the two forces operate separately and focus on different operational roles.

IRGC vs US military

However, as an asymmetrical force, it has ballistic missiles capable of striking regional targets and U.S. forces stationed in the Gulf. Besides, as it possesses fast attack boats, anti-ship missiles, and naval mines, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards can disrupt shipping and threaten U.S. Navy operations through choke points like the Strait of Hormuz. It also has drone and missile forces and these have been used against regional adversaries. The proxy networks like the Quds Force can also be pressed into service and wreak havoc in Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, and Syria.

(Can the IRGC block the Strait of Hormuz?)

However, despite all of these assets and facilities, the IRGC is not a match for the US military and does not pose a serious and decisive threat to Washington and its bases in the Middle East. Washington can boast of a military that is widely acknowledged as the world’s most powerful force, with unmatched airpower, naval strength (including multiple aircraft carriers), advanced surveillance and strike capabilities, precision weapons, and global logistics. It surpasses Iran’s military in almost every conventional metric. The best the IRGC can do is to attack the US bases in the Middle East and damage them to some extent. It can also block the Strait of Hormuz, stopping the flow of oil and hitting the world economy to some extent.