Critics say that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has been involved in terror-related activities and rights abuses. They are however divided whether its designation as a "terrorist group" is the right decision.
"This unprecedented step, led by the Department of State, recognizes that Iran is not only a State Sponsor of Terrorism, but that the IRGC actively participates in, finances and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft," a statement from US President Donald Trump's press secretary read.
According to Trump's office, the designation "sends a clear message" to Iran's government that its actions have consequences.
The designation means that the United States would impose direct sanctions on the IRGC.
In response, Iran's government declared the US Central Command and the US military in West Asia "terrorist" organizations and labeled the United States a "state sponsor of terrorism."
Trump administration turns up heat on Iran's elite military forces
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Hossein Aryan, a senior military affairs analyst, told DW that the retaliation has no practical significance.
"It is just propaganda for domestic consumption," said Aryan, who served as a naval officer in Iran for 18 years. "However, the IRGC can use its 'surrogates' to exploit US vulnerabilities in Iraq and Syria. It has close ties with Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah group, and it can use it to cause trouble for American forces in eastern Syria."
The IRGC is Iran's elite military force responsible for protecting the regime from internal and external threats. The 150,000-man force also controls the Basij militia, which has about 90,000 active members, and runs the foreign special operations Quds force.
The corps was established at the end of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution as an elite armed militia whose role was to protect the then-embryonic Shiite clerical regime. It also formed an important counterweight to Iran's conventional military, many of whose leaders were believed to be loyal to the exiled shah.
The unit initially operated as a domestic force, but expanded quickly after Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein invaded Iran in 1980, when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini gave the group its own ground, naval and air forces.
40 years ago, the revolutionaries led by Ayatollah Khomeini seized power in Iran. Anger against the Western-backed Shah regime helped Khomeini establish his hardline Islamic system, which still dominates the country.
Image: Reuters/Official Khamenei website
'I feel nothing'
On February 1, 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Tehran from exile in France. When a reporter asked him how he felt upon his return to Iran, Khomeini replied: "Nothing — I feel nothing." Some analysts interpreted his remarks as the Shiite leader's idea about embarking on a "divine mission" where emotions hardly mattered.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Images
The Shah ran out of time
Two months before Khomeini's return to Iran, an estimated six to nine million people took to the streets in the country's major cities. The demonstrations were largely peaceful, compared to the violent September 8, 1978, protests. The Shah regime, headed by Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, had realized that its time in power was over and that they could not stop Khomeini's return.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/UPI
Even women rooted for Khomeini
The revolutionary mood was so intense in Tehran that even many women celebrated Khomeini's return, ignoring the fact that Khomeini had slammed Shah's measures for women's emancipation in exile. In 1963, the Shah of Iran granted women the right to vote.
Image: picture-alliance/IMAGNO/Votava
A spectacle of exuberance
In 1971, the Shah and his wife Farah Diba (seen in the picture) staged a lavish spectacle on the ancient site of Persepolis to mark the "2,500th anniversary of the Iranian monarchy." Many heads of state attended the event. Khomeini, in his message from exile, condemned the monarchy as "cruel, evil and un-Islamic."
Image: picture alliance/akg-images/H. Vassal
Exile and death
Under pressure from the Islamic Revolution, the Shah (left) had left Iran on January 16, 1979. After spending time in several countries, he succumbed to cancer on July 27, 1980 in Cairo, Egypt.
Image: picture-alliance/UPI
Consolidating power
In the beginning, women's rights were not a major issue for the Islamic revolutionaries. They only imposed hardline Islam after consolidating their victory.
Image: Tasnim
Soldiers join the revolution
Upon Khomeini's return to Iran in 1979, the military did not confront the protesters. On February 11, the army declared itself neutral. Despite that, the revolutionaries executed several generals in February and April.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/EPU
New government
Soon after his return, Khomeini declared the monarchy, the previous government and parliament illegal, and said he would appoint a government "because of the fact that this nation believes in me." According to Iran experts, it was not self-deception but reality.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/FY
The liberal face of the revolution
Mehdi Bazargan, a scholar and pro-democracy activist, had campaigned against the Pahlavi dynasty, for which he had been incarcerated for several years. Khomeini appointed him as his first prime minister, although Bazargan was critical of him as well. Bazargan had called Khomeini a "turbaned Shah" after a meeting with the Ayatollah in Paris. He remained in office for only nine months.
Image: Iranian.com
Occupation of the US Embassy
In November 1979, radical Iranian students seized the US Embassy in Tehran and took the embassy staff hostage. The students were fearful of Shah's return to power with US help. Khomeini took advantage of the situation. He dismissed his opponents as "US allies."
Image: Fars
Ali Khamenei – guardian of the revolution
In 1989, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was elected by the expert council to succeed Khomeini. Khamenei, to this date, has the ultimate power over all state institutions. Although the 79-year-old does not have the same charisma as his predecessor, he represents the policies of Iranian hardliners who refuse to reform the system and continue to persecute dissidents.
Image: Reuters/Official Khamenei website
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An 'armed instrument for the regime's abuses'
"The IRGC, as its name indicates, was created as a tool to promote jihad all over the world," Paulo Casaca, the founder and executive director of the Brussels-based South Asia Democratic Forum, told DW, adding that he feels the designation was justified. "It has been involved in the promotion of terrorism for a long time."
"It is important to note that the European Union has already listed the most important IRGC leaders as 'terrorist entities,'" Casaca said. "Hence, there is no contradiction between the US measures and the ones taken by the EU some months ago."
"There is a difference in method though," said Casaca, who was a member of the European Parliament for Portugal from 1999 to 2009. "Whereas the EU thinks it is better to keep the designation for only some individuals — this is also the case with Lebanon's Hezbollah, which the EU only partially listed as a terrorist organization — the US has now put the entire organization on its terrorist list
The corps has reportedly suppressed dissidents within Iran and been involved in torture and massive human rights abuses.
"The IRGC is the main armed instrument for the regime's abuses," Casaca said. "It has huge economic clout in the country: It is part of Iran's formal and informal economy and acts as a public-investment and social-intervention body."
Casaca said he believed that the IRGC was involved in "spreading jihad abroad."
"It directs finances and arms to militias in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Afghanistan and Pakistan," Casaca said. "Through its internal militia, the Basij, it is the regime's tool for internal repression. Most of the times, it is called into action whenever popular protests become stronger in the country."
Both political party and militant group, the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah is as strong as ever. Its ascendancy has stoked tensions within Lebanon and across the region.
Image: Getty Images/C. Furlong
Rise of Hezbollah
Hezbollah, or Party of God, was conceived by Muslim clerics in the 1980s in response to the Israeli invasion of South Lebanon in 1982. The Shiite group has a political and military wing.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
National support against Israel
Hezbollah emerged in the 1980s as an amalgamation of Shiite militias and played a major role in the Lebanese civil war. It used guerrilla warfare to drive Israeli forces out of South Lebanon — Israel withdrew in 2000. Israel and Hezbollah fought another war in 2006. Its defense of Lebanon against Israel had won it cross-sectarian support and acceptance in Lebanese society.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/M. Zaatari
Backed by Iran
Since its creation, Hezbollah has received military, financial and political support from Iran and Syria. Today, Hezbollah's military wing is more powerful than Lebanon's own army and has become a major regional paramilitary force.
Image: Reuters/O. Sanadiki
Political apparatus
Hezbollah turned its focus to politics following the end of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war. It represents a large section of the Lebanese Shiite population and is allied with other sectarian groups, including Christians. Their political development has mostly come under Hassan Nasrallah (pictured), who became the group's leader in 1992.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Armed wing
Unlike other parties in Lebanon's multi-sided 1975-1990 civil war, Hezbollah did not disband its armed wing. Some Lebanese political groups, such as Prime Minister Saad Hariri's Future Movement, want Hezbollah to put down its arms. Hezbollah argues its militant wing is necessary to defend against Israel and other external threats.
Image: picture-alliance/AA
Terror group?
A number of countries and bodies, including the United States, Israel, Canada and the Arab League, consider Hezbollah a terrorist organization. However, Australia and most of the European Union differentiate between its legitimate political activities and its militant wing.
Image: picture-alliance/Pacific Press/I. Press
Hezbollah enters Syria's civil war
Hezbollah has been one of the main backers of Syrian President Bashar Assad in the country's civil war. Its entrance into the war helped save Assad, one of its chief patrons; secured weapons supply routes from Syria and formed a buffer zone around Lebanon against Sunni militant groups it feared would take over Syria. As a result it has won considerable support from Shiite communities in Lebanon.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/Syrian Central Military Media
Sectarianism
Lebanon has long been at the center of regional power struggles, particularly between Saudi Arabia and Iran. However, Hezbollah's military and political ascendancy, as well as its intervention in Syria, have also helped stoke Sunni-Shiite sectarian tensions in Lebanon and across the region.
Image: dapd
Renewed conflict with Israel?
Iran and Hezbollah have increased their political and military strength through the war in Syria. Israel views this as a threat and has carried out dozens of airstrikes on Iran/Hezbollah targets in Syria. Israel has vowed to not let Iran and Hezbollah create a permanent presence in Syria. There is growing concern of another war between Hezbollah and Israel that could draw in Iran.
Image: Getty Images/C. Furlong
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Support for IRGC
Supporters of Iran's government view the IRGC as a "protector" and "guardian" of the revolution.
The IRGC has also been involved in public services and relief activities, such as by helping out the victims of the ongoing massive floods. The head of IRGC recently said the armed forces "were using all their power" to respond to the flood damage. Some Iranians believe that the IRGC has used the floods to increase its domestic support.
On Tuesday, Iranian lawmakers dressed in paramilitary uniforms and chanted "Death to America" in parliament. President Hassan Rouhani said the force's popularity would only surge in the wake of the designation, adding that the IRGC would be more supported by Iranians "than any other time."
That sentiment was apparent on social media. "According to the Article 150 of the Iranian Constitution, the IRGC is a part of the armed forces," Reza Ramezannejad G wrote on Twitter Monday, using the hashtag #WeSupportIRGC. "Calling them 'terrorist' is an insult to the constitution of the country and the people of Iran."
Some support the US's decision. "I was arrested by the IRGC and tortured for three months," someone named Madyar wronte on Twitter Monday. "I still suffer from it even after 15 years. I was imprisoned for nearly two years. The Revolutionary Guards Corps is a 'rebellious' military force that violates human rights and is the enemy of the Iran. The corps are "alone." Let me be clear: there is no reason to support an institution that violates human rights, which is oppressive and which plunders our economy."
Reza Alijani, a Paris-based Iranian journalist and member of the Council of Nationalist-Religious Activists of Iran,told DW he believed that the decision would make reconciliation and negotiation between the US and Iran even more difficult.
"The policies of Iran's rulers and the Trump administration have put Iranians between two poles," Alijani said. "The IRGC issue should be solved by the Iranian people themselves. Now, how the Iranians are going to react to the US decision is hard to predict."
