Iran’s Revolutionary Guards ---------------------------- The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is Iran’s most powerful security, military, political and economic organization, responsible for the protection and survival of the regime ---------------------------- Caspian Sea Karaj Uranium enrichment Arak equipment Heavy water reactor Natanz Uranium enrichment Anarak: Nuclear waste disposal Tehran Nuclear research centre Parchin: Military base Fordow: Centrifuges Saghand Isfahan Research reactors Ardakan Yellowcake production Persian Gulf IRAQ KUWAIT SAUDI ARABIA IRAN Bushehr Reactor Gachin 200km 120 miles Iran’s nuclear facilities – threat to increase enrichment ---------------------------- Mohammad Ali Jafari Commander of IRGC Qassem Suleimani Commander of Quds Force ---------------------------- 1979: IRGC created after revolution that swept away Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and installed Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as leader ---------------------------- 1980-88: Invasion by Iraq’s President Saddam Hussein bolsters IRGC as Iran’s premier military force during 8-year war ---------------------------- 1982: IRGC Quds Force provides military training to Lebanese Hezbollah fighters ---------------------------- Apr 1983: Hezbollah suicide attack on U.S. embassy in Beirut kills 63, wounds 120 ---------------------------- Oct: Suicide truck bombing of U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut (above) kills 241 U.S. service personnel – Hezbollah is blamed ---------------------------- 1989: Khatam al-Anbia (KAA) created. KAA is construction arm of IRGC, employing some 40,000 people in oil and gas industry, and nuclear programme ---------------------------- Mar 1992: Hezbollah and IRGC accused of suicide attack at Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which kills 29 and wounds 242 ---------------------------- Jul 1994: Truck bombing of Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires kills 85 and wounds 300. IRGS is later named in indictment ---------------------------- Jun 1996: Truck bomb blows up Saudi Arabia’s Khobar Towers (above) – housing complex for U.S. Air Force pilots and staff – killing 19 Americans and wounding 372. FBI investigation finds Iran responsible for attack ---------------------------- 2005: U.S. Congress funds covert operations from Iraq into Iran to combat Quds Force ---------------------------- 2007: U.S. designates Quds Force as terror organization ---------------------------- 2012: IRGC and Quds Force metamorphose into expeditionary force, entering Syrian conflict, training Venezuela’s National Guard, Colombia’s FARC rebels and Taliban forces in Afghanistan IRGC transfers technology to Hamas to build short and mid-range ballistic missiles ---------------------------- Qassam-3 rocket uses sugar and fertiliser as fuel Length: 2.6m Range: 12km Warhead: 10kg ---------------------------- 2014: Quds Force’s General Suleimani personally oversees fight against so-called Islamic State (IS) in Iraq, and aids Houthi rebels to take over Yemen’s capital city, Sanaa ---------------------------- Mar 2015: During battle to retake Iraqi city of Tikrit from IS, President Barack Obama orders U.S. Air Force to support offensives by Quds Force, and Iraqi Popular Mobilisation Units (below) – under Suleimani’s command ---------------------------- 2017: Iran’s parliament approves budget of $7.4 billion for IRGC ---------------------------- Apr 2019: President Donald Trump designates IRGC as Foreign Terrorist Organization ---------------------------- May: U.S. deploys USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and B-52 bombers to Middle East in response to “clear indications” that Iran and Iranian proxies are planning to attack U.S. forces ---------------------------- IRGC strength: 150,000 Land forces: 125,000 Navy: 20,000 Quds Forces: 5,000 ---------------------------- Sources: Al Jazeera, Counter Extremism Project, U.S. Institute for Peace Pictures: Associated Press, Getty Images © GRAPHIC NEWS