Middle East Information Resource
Political Entities - Pasdaran
The Pasdaran, Revolutionary Guards of Iran, is a military organization formed in the early days of the Islamic revolution in Iran. It is essentially a regular military establishment, with land, sea and air forces, and 100,000 soldiers. However, its goal was not so much related to the nation of Iran as it was to the defence of the revolution. Khomeini`s lacked confidence in the regular army, whose commanders had served the Shah. The core of the Pasdaran was composed of Iranian guerrilla fighters, who had been trained in Fatah camps in Lebanon in the 1970`s.
In the last months of the Shah`s regime, the army and official security forces were weakened. At this time the Pasdaran took upon themselves the task of maintaining civil order. They took orders from Khomenei and instrumental in furthering his agenda. Following the revolution they set up branches of the Komiteh throughout the country, in order to monitor any counterrevolutionary elements.
When war came with Iraq, the organization started to arm itself with heavy weapons and become institutionalized. It defended Iran, but also launched attacks on Iraq. Its numbers reached 400,000. Public recruitment was sanctioned as part of Khomeini`s plan to raise a "20 million man army." The Pasdaran became much more than a mere militia, and was not at all subordinate to the official army. The competition and the absence of coordination between the two forces led to many confrontations.
A plan to merge the Pasdaran with the regular army was shelved. There was active opposition from its commanders. The force was further institutionalized and ranks of command were created, uniforms introduced, and large budgets allocated. A separate ministry was even established. Even though the Pasdaran and the army continue to exist separately, there is now a common supreme command under the Ministry of Defense.