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A majority of the Netherlands parliament voted this past week to place Iran's elite military unit, the Revolutionary Guards, on the European Union (EU) terror list. The Dutch resolution appears to be the first European motion to target the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist entity. The resolution cited the IRGC's support for Hamas and Hizbullah as reasons to label the Guards as an unlawful organization fomenting terror. A second anti-terror resolution was also passed by the Dutch parliament. That motion urges the UN-affiliated International Maritime Organization (IMO) to bar Iran from "accession" to the IMO council because...

Note: The following blog entry is a quote: Iranian Official: The U.S. Is No Longer Immune to Attack At a November 21, 2009 conference in Qom, Ali Saeedi, Khamenei's representative in the IRGC, aimed a veiled threat at the US, saying that this country is no longer immune to attack. Assaults like 9/11 have proved that its stability can be compromised, he explained. Source: Fars (Iran), November 22, 2009 Posted at: 2009-11-22

An Iranian former deputy defense minister who has been missing for nearly three years was abducted by Israeli agents and is now being held in Israel, several Iranian news Web sites reported Sunday. Ali Reza Asgari, a retired general who served in Iran's Revolutionary Guard, disappeared while on a private trip to Turkey in December 2006. In March of this year, a former German Defense Ministry official said Asgari had defected and was providing considerable information to the West on Iran's nuclear program.

Russia should honor a contract to sell a missile defense system to Iran and not bend to outside pressure, the Islamic Republic's defense minister said in remarks published on Thursday. Russia, which is under Western pressure to distance itself from Iran, has not followed through on proposals to supply high-grade S-300 air defense missiles. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised Russia last month for not providing the arms to Iran, which is at odds with the West over its nuclear and missile programs. Israel says the S-300 systems could be used to defend Iranian nuclear facilities against potential air strikes....

Note: The following blog entry is a quote: Blog Details IRGC: Iran Views U.S. As No. 1 Enemy In a statement issued today, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) lashed out at the U.S. for the numerous plots it has hatched against Iran's Islamic establishment since the beginning of the Islamic Revolution in the country. "The honorable nation of the Islamic Iran considers the U.S. – the Great Satan – to be the main contributor to problems in the Muslim world and the source of plots and conspiracies against the Islamic Republic and the Islamic Revolution," the IRGC statement said....

Pakistani police arrested 11 Iranian Revolutionary Guard officers Monday for illegally entering the country, amid tensions over a recent suicide attack that Tehran alleges was carried out by militants backed by Pakistani intelligence officials. The 11 officers were taken into custody in Mashkel, close to the countries' border in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, police officer Dadur Raman said. He said officers were interrogating the men and had seized two vehicles.

Iraqi security forces detained an Iranian operative in southern Iraq in the latest operation designed to curb Iran's influence in the war-torn country. Iraqi security forces have detained four Iranian operatives since the beginning of October. On Oct. 1, the US military announced that Iraqi paramilitary police from the National Emergency Response Brigade arrested Khalid Masur Isma’il during a raid in the Shia slum of Sadr City. Isma’il served as "financier and recruiter" for the Hezbollah Brigades... Two other Hezbollah Brigades operatives have been captured in Baghdad this month. On Oct. 3, Iraqi troops arrested a man thought to be...

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's official news agency is reporting that at least five senior commanders of the elite Revolutionary Guard have been killed in a homicide bombing in southeastern Iran

While several official news agencies announced two weeks ago that the Basij force will be merged into the ground force of the Islamic Passdaran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), yesterday the Armed Forces Joint Chief of Staff confirmed the plan and announced the creation of the “IRGC Ground Resistance” force. Hassan Firouzabadi said, “after two years of study we concluded to change the IRGC’s structure, for the Basij to work in areas such as software work and the propagation of the Basiji culture in society, and to delegate the tasks, duties and mobilization of Basij units to a new called the...

Note: Photos included. "Ahwazi Organization: Iran is Planning to Attack the Gulf Countries; Iran is Producing Chemical Weapons and Burying the Waste in Ahwaz" SNIPPET: "On October 5, 2009, Alarabiya.net posted an interview with an Arab Ahwazi man who was presented as a former undercover agent for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The man claimed that 40,000 well-trained operatives, mostly Shi'ites, are in the service of Iran in the ArabGulf states - 3,000 of them in Kuwait alone. He stated that the cells formed by these operatives were trained to collect intelligence, sabotage installations in the Gulf region, and...

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's list of cabinet nominees reveals a determination to fill the top positions in Iran's government from a coterie of loyal men, plus three women, many of whom are strongly linked to the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). Under Ahmadinejad's previous administration there was a distinct militarisation of politics: many ministers, as well as ambassadors, mayors, provincial governors and senior bureaucrats, were drawn from the guards. Ahmadinejad himself is widely associated with the IRGC, but in an interview his adviser insisted that the president had never been a member and was present only "when necessary" (although when pressed the adviser...

The man accused of killing Neda Soltan has been identified as Abbas Kargar Javid, a pro-government militiaman, after photographs of the Basiji’s ID cards appeared on the internet. The identification challenges the Iranian regime’s claim that foreign agents shot the young woman, who became a global symbol of resistance to the Government of President Ahmadinejad. One picture appears on Mr Javid’s Basij identification card, which was taken off him by the crowd that stopped him briefly when he fled the murder scene during a massive demonstration against electoral fraud on June 20. Photographs of that card and another that was...

Italian newspaper says plane crash north of Tehran which left 168 people dead was caused by explosion of fuses slated to be delivered to Lebanese organization. According to report, members of Revolutionary Guards among casualties 08.02.09 / Israel News An Iranian plane crash two weeks ago – which left 168 people dead – was caused by the explosion of sophisticated fuses slated to be delivered to Hezbollah, Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported Saturday, quoting sources in the Middle East. According to the report, the pilot of the Tupolev plane, which was making its way from Tehran to Armenia, sent...

In a shocking and unprecedented interview, directly exposing the inhumanity of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's religious regime in Iran, a serving member of the paramilitary Basiji militia has told this reporter of his role in suppressing opposition street protests in recent weeks. He has also detailed aspects of his earlier service in the force, including his enforced participation in the rape of young Iranian girls prior to their execution. The interview took place by telephone, and on condition of anonymity. It was arranged by a reliable source whose identity can also not be revealed. Founded by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in...

The US military recently released five Iranian Qods Force agents who had posed as diplomats and were detained in northern Iraq in late 2006. The Iranian agents were released to the Iraqi government, which is expected to promptly turn them back over to Iran. In January 2007, the five Iranian agents were detained by US forces in the Kurdish city of Irbil. Iran claimed the men were part of a diplomatic mission in Irbil, and protested the arrest. The men were operating from a liaison office that did not enjoy diplomatic privileges, however. The US military accused the five Iranians...

Azerbaijan media publish segments from hearing of 2 Lebanese, 4 locals accused of planning terror attack on Israeli embassy in capital city, Baku. According to indictment, suspects admit to being sent by Hezbollah, Iranian Revolutionary Guards, and al-Qaeda Ynet Published: 07.09.09, 00:20 / Israel News

According to the Cyrus News Agency, Tuesday morning 16 senior members of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps were arrested. "These commanders have been in contact with members of the Iranian army to join the people's movement," CNA reports.

ONE OF THEIR TARGETS WAS THE GABALA RADAR STATION The Gabala radar station is evidently capable of detecting Iranian missile launches. The facility was built by the Soviets and is now leased back from Azerbaijan by Russia. There has been talk of US/Russian cooperation in operating the site for the purpose of monitoring Iranian actions, much to the chagrin of the mullahs.

TEHRAN (FNA) - Lieutenant Commander of Iran’s Basij (volunteer) forces General Hossein Hamedani Saturday warned about enemy plots to spark a “velvet revolution” in Iran. “The enemy is seeking to start a velvet revolution in the country, considering its movements and behavior,” Hamedani told reporters, elaborating on the soft threats currently posed to the Islamic Republic by the enemies. Reminding enemies’ efforts to stir tension in different parts of Iran and alluding to the West’s role and back up for Saddam’s regime during the 8-year Iraqi imposed war on Iran, the commander expressed the hope that such moves would fail...

March 24, 2009 Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/March/09-nsd-264.html Irish Trading Firm and Its Officers Charged in Scheme to Supply Iran with Sensitive U.S. Technology WASHINGTON – An Irish trading company and three of its officers have been charged with purchasing helicopter engines and other aircraft components from U.S. firms and illegally exporting them to Iran using companies in Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates. Among the alleged recipients of these U.S. goods was an Iranian military firm that has since been designated by the United States for being owned or controlled by entities involved in Iran’s nuclear...

Jerusalem — Hezbollah could be one of the first security challenges faced by the new Obama administration. An official government report concludes the Iranian-backed Islamic terror group has been forming sleeper cells throughout the United States that could become operational. The report estimates Hezbollah could become a much more potent national security threat by 2014. The group was responsible for the 1983 Beirut Marine Barracks bombing, which killed 241 U.S. Marines and 58 French servicemen. “The Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah does not have a known history of
fomenting attacks inside the U.S., but that could change if there is some
kind of...

SNIPPET: "A North Texas imam is calling on Muslims to take up arms in defense of Palestinians in Gaza. Sheikh Mohamed El-Moctar El-Shinqiti, director of the Islamic Center of South Plains in Lubbock, Texas, participated in an online chat, "Fatwas on Gaza," at the web site IslamOnline.net. El-Shinqiti encouraged readers to fight - or if they can't, to send money to those who are fighting - in response to six out of the eight questions posed to him in the online chat. When asked what can be done to help the people in Gaza, El-Shinqiti emphasized war over sending food...

Cheney stressed the US support for the Gaza operation, saying the rocket fire on Israel must stop.

U.S. Military: Tense Encounters With Iran Occur Almost Daily in Strait of Hormuz WASHINGTON — EXCLUSIVE: Amid false allegations from Iranian media that a U.S. plane was forced down after accidentally entering Iranian airspace, FOX News learned Tuesday about another tense incident that occurred last month near the Strait of Hormuz. On Sept. 6, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard threatened to shoot down U.S. helicopters flying cover aboard the USS Peliliu patrolling in the area, according to a classified military transcript of the radio exchange. According to the transcript, the Peleliu, while en route to the Strait from the Gulf of...

Iran's Revolutionary Guards - A Rogue Outfit? by Michael Rubin Middle East Quarterly There is a tendency in Western capitals to dismiss adversarial Iranian behavior as the work of rogue regime factions, which are not representative of Tehran's true intentions. Following a Baghdad press conference providing evidence of Iranian weapons shipments to Iraq,[1] U.S. officials raised doubts about Iran's actual culpability. The weapons shipments do "not translate to that the Iranian government per se, for sure, is directly involved in doing this," Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, noted the next day.[2] On February 14, 2007, President...

Iran's Armed Forces are set to test the country's state-of-the-art weapons systems in a large-scale naval-ground military parade. The Islamic Revolution Guards Corp (IRGC) and the Army will take part in the large-scale military parade on Sunday, Fars News Agency reported. Iran's Shahab, Zalzal and Naze'at ballistic missiles, and Kowsar and Noor anti-ship missiles along with the country's electro-optical surveillance systems, tanks, anti-aircraft missiles and smart bombs are expected to be put on display in Sunday's joint military march

Almost three decades after the Islamic Republic's founding, former Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commanders are infiltrating the political, economic, and cultural life of Iran. Half the members of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's cabinet are former IRGC officers,[1] and he has appointed several IRGC officers to provincial governorships. The IRGC's rise has been deliberate. Facing both external opposition to Tehran's pursuit of an indigenous nuclear enrichment capability and internal pressures for political and economic reforms, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei considers the IRGC officer corps more apt at crisis management than the bureaucratic teams of either former president Ali Akbar Hashemi...

Sen. Joe Biden – Barack Obama’s eagerly anticipated running mate – should be named an honorary soldier in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). We’re all familiar with the IRGC: Iran’s unique corps of Islamist fighters who have been directly involved in deadly attacks against U.S. soldiers in Iraq – even Afghanistan – threatening our ships in the Persian Gulf; and organizing, training, equipping, funding, and providing direct operational support to Lebanon-based Hezbollah (perhaps the most dangerous terrorist army on earth). And that’s just for starters. Also known as the Pasdaran, the IRGC is not Iran’s conventional territorial armed force,...

Missiles of Illusion Remember al-Qaher and al-Zafer? You don't? Well, what about al-Hussein and al-Abbas? No, again? The first two were the names of missiles that the Egyptian dictator Gamal Abdul Nasser relied upon as "secret weapons" in his promised "Battle of Destiny" in 1967. The other two were names of Saddam Hussein's missiles that were supposed to secure him victory in his "Mother of Battles" in 1991. We now have to learn the names of two other missiles, Shahab and Zelzeleh presented by Iran's Khomeinist rulers as in what they regard as an inevitable war against the United States...

Iran would "set on fire" Israel and the US navy in the Gulf as its first response to any American attack over its nuclear programme, an aide to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Tuesday. "The first US shot on Iran would set the United States' vital interests in the world on fire," said Ali Shirazi, a mid-ranking cleric who is Khamenei's representative to the naval forces of the elite Revolutionary Guards.

Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards began military maneuvers on Monday, news agencies said, the same day the U.S. Navy said it was carrying out an exercise in the Gulf.

Gas plant blast kills 15 in Iran 2008-06-30 TEHRAN, June 30 (Xinhua) -- About 15 people are feared to have lost their lives in an explosion of natural gas tanks in a city west of Tehran, Iran's satellite Press TV said on Monday. The explosion ripped through the Mohammad-Shahr gas processing plant at about 22:00 local time (1930 GMT) Sunday in the city of Karaj, said the report. An undisclosed number of gas tanks blew up on the heels of the initial explosion, adding to the intensity of the blast, Press TV said. The cause of the explosion has not...

Car Bomb Blamed on Iranian Backed Shias June 19, 2008 The US military has accused Iranian-backed Shia groups of setting off a car bomb that killed more than 60 people in a mainly Shia area of Baghdad, hinting at yet another new twist in the complex web of violence gripping the capital. “We believe the attack was not conducted by AQI [Al-Qaeda in Iraq],” said Lieutenant-Colonel Steven Stover, a US army spokesman, said. “Though vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices are a trademark of AQI, our intelligence, corroborated through multiple sources, is this atrocity was committed by a Special Groups cell led...

US Envoy Slams Iran's Alleged Destabilizing Role in Iraq April 28, 2008 AFP UNITED NATIONS -- The US ambassador to the UN on Monday slammed the alleged destabilizing role of Iran and Syria in Iraq and urged them to stop the flow of weapons and foreign fighters into their war-scarred neighbor. US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told a Security Council meeting that recent clashes between Iraqi government forces and "criminal militia elements" in Baghdad and Basra pointed to "Iran's destabilizing influence and actions." He said the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, known as Qods Force, "continues to arm, train, and fund...

'20 Hizbullah men die in Iran training' Apr. 10, 2008 At least 20 Hizbullah fighters have been killed during military training in Iran, the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Watan reported Thursday evening, quoting the Director General of the Islamic Union in Lebanon, Muhammad Ali Husseini. The Lebanese official did not say exactly how the fighters were killed, but he made clear that "Hizbullah regards those killed while training in Iran as holy ones who died fulfilling their duties, and this concerns not only Shi'ites, but also Sunnis who are loyal to Hizbullah." "The training in Iran lies at the heart of our...

The Day the Americans Sunk Khomeini's Navy Friday 11 January 2008 The other day in the Strait of Hormuz history repeated itself but, as always in such cases, only as farce. Five French-made speedboats flying the colors of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iran's parallel army, approached a US warship in a "threatening posture." When the Americans asked what the Iranians wanted, the answer came loud and clear: Move away or we will sink you! In response, the Americans trained their heavy guns on the tiny IRGC boats and prepared to fire. The incident ended with some huffing and...

The Straits of Hormuz January 9, 2008 So now the Iranians have denied “buzzing” American warships. No surprise there; the mullahs always deny any aggressive acts, even when they are caught red-handed. They deny arming, training and guiding terrorists in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon. They deny EVER carrying out belligerent acts, even though their armed forces, in uniform, attempted to capture American Special Forces in Iraq in September, 2006. And on and on. The most surprising thing about the Straits of Hormuz event is that anyone is surprised. After all, they’ve been attacking us for nearly 30 years. But that...

January 8, 2008 -- EARLY Sunday morning, the US Navy lost its nerve and guaranteed that American sailors will die at Iranian hands in the future. As three of our warships passed through the Straits of Hormuz, five small Iranian patrol craft rushed them. As the Revolutionary Guard boats neared our vessels, an Iranian officer broadcast a threat to our ships, claiming they'd soon explode. The Iranians tossed boxes into the water. Mines? Just in case, our ships took evasive action. The Iranians kept on coming, closing to a distance of 200 meters - about two football fields. Supposedly, our...

US Navy commanders were moments away from firing on Iranian attack ships during a skirmish in the Straits of Hormuz, it has emerged. Damien McElory: American armada prepares to take on IranA Pentagon spokesman revealed that five Iranian Revolutionary Guard Navy boats harrassed and provoked three US ships in the narrow waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf at the weekend.   The Persian Gulf is the scene of tensions between Iran and the US The Iranian craft came within 200 yards of the US vessels, which were sailing in international waters. The Iranian provocations included disregarding warnings...

Iran's Elite Military Force Fears Security Threat From Within December 28, 2007 The Financial Times Najmeh Bozorgmehr in Tehran It has been accused of playing a role in arming Shia militia in Iraq and threatened with being labelled a "terrorist organisation" by the US, but Iran's Revolutionary Guard - the country's elite military force - believes that domestic security threats represent a much greater danger to the country than the international crisis surrounding its nuclear programme. Mohammad-Ali Jafari, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander, said shortly after he took his new job in September: "The main mission of the guards is...

Iran Continues to Support Shiite Militias in Iraq, Pentagon Says Ann Scott Tyson Washington Post December 19, 2007 A new Pentagon report has concluded that Iran continues to provide money, training and weapons to Shiite militias in Iraq, although U.S. commanders previously stated that attacks using lethal bombs linked to Iran have fallen in recent months. "There has been no identified decrease in Iranian training and funding of illegal Shi'a militias in Iraq," said the report, released yesterday. "Tehran's support for Shi'a militant groups who attack Coalition and Iraq forces remains a significant impediment to progress," it said, adding that...

Report has torpedoed plans for military action and brought 'howls' from neocons The intelligence came from an exotic variety of sources: there was the so-called Laptop of Death; there was the Iranian commander who mysteriously disappeared in Turkey. Also in the mix was video footage of a nuclear plant in central Iran and intercepts of Iranian telephone calls by the British listening station GCHQ.But pivotal to the US investigation into Iran's suspect nuclear weapons programme was the work of a little-known intelligence specialist, Thomas Fingar. He was the principal author of an intelligence report published on Monday that concluded Iran,...

In March of 2007 Iranian Revolutionary Guards General Ali-Reza Ashgari defected to the West through Turkey. General Ashgari is the highest-ranking defector from Iran ever, a huge bonanza for our understanding of the Khomeinist regime's intentions and capabilities with regard to nuclear weapons. If he is for real. Troubling circumstantial evidence suggests that he is not. This week, a public summary of the new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran made worldwide headlines.  Contrary to endless public statements made over three decades from Khomeini to Ahmadi-Nejad, contrary to the 2005 NIE, contrary to the recent UN report, and contrary to Israeli intelligence, the...

The chief of the IRGC has warned that the enemies will have to suffer the tsunamis of resistance if they continue to plot against Iran. Brigadier General Mohammad-Ali Ja'fari said on Friday the Iranian nation is ready to fend off any attacks from the West. "Our enemies should know that although Iran has so far been patient with the West, this is the calm before the storm," he cautioned. "If the Leader of the Islamic Revolution issues an order, the nation and the Basij volunteer forces will not hesitate even one second to thwart the plots hatched by the enemies,"...

Who Are Iran's Revolutionary Guards? November 15, 2007 Amir Taheri The scene is a board meeting of Bank Sepah, Iran's second-largest financial institution, in Tehran. The directors are waiting for the sardar (literally "head-owner") to arrive. But the sardar is in a changing room, shedding his uniform for a civilian suit. The man in question is Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, the new commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which owns and controls the bank. Most Americans already know more about the IRGC than they'd like to. In September the Senate voted overwhelmingly in favor of a nonbinding resolution...

..." The sources pointed out that students and professors resisted the closure. Iranian forces shot them, and detained a number of students."

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) was set up shortly after the 1979 Iranian revolution to defend the country's Islamic system, and to provide a counterweight to the regular armed forces. It has since become a major military, political and economic force in Iran, with close ties to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a former member.

Iranian regime reaching point of no return By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent Last Updated: 5:38pm BST 25/10/2007 America's steady march on Teheran is composed of many steps but each is a deliberate advance on the heart of the Islamic regime and its key supporters. US imposes harsh new sanctions against Iran The sanctions announced today by America's Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson are ostensibly aimed at starving resources available to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRG), the 125,000-strong paramilitary force controlled by the Islamic hierarchy. America has after all pinpointed the IRG, and specifically its...

Iran's Guards: We are ready for war Duncan Hooper Iran has responded fiercely to the United States' unilateral imposition of sanctions, declaring that the measures are doomed to fail. Analysis: Iran reaching the point of no returnNews Review: Inside the real Iran US imposes sanctions on Iran The head of the Revolutionary Guards, singled out by Washington as a "supporter of terrorism", insisted that his troops are more than ever ready to defend the ideals of the revolution, according to the BBC. Foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini declared: "The hostile American policies towards the respectable people of Iran and...

WASHINGTON (AFP) — New US sanctions on Iran Thursday sent shockwaves through the 2008 White House race, in which Tehran is fanning foreign policy rows among saber-rattling Republicans and war-wary Democrats.The Bush administration's new weapons and terrorism sanctions against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its Quds force provided fresh fodder for candidates, less than 10 weeks before first party nominating contests.Democrats John Edwards and Barack Obama accuse front-runner Hillary Clinton of easing the path to war with Iran, and say she is repeating mistakes which led to the US invasion of Iraq.Republicans meanwhile warn of the threat of a...