operation epic fury
We’re all painfully aware that Tiny Hands can’t get his story straight as to why he launched a war against Iran and, in the absence of a clear explanation, many appear to have latched onto the claim that it’s a crusade, a holy war. Former TV personality, second lieutenant and current secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, bears much of the responsibility for this. Looking like an extra from The Shawshank Redemption sporting a vast array of far-right and evangelical tattoos (Deus Vult (God Wills It), Jerusalem Cross (Supporter of Crusades), Kafir (Unbeliever of Islam), an AR-15 rifle, et al) he has openly endorsed Christianity as the military’s guiding philosophy and supports the view that the military is a quasi-political-theological movement.
So why, with such force, fire-power, belief and conviction has victory so far evaded the US? Step forward the tyrannical backbone of the Iranian theocratic regime, the feared Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Founded soon after the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the IRGC was essentially an internal street militia designed to protect Ayatollah Khomeini from both the army and the police, which he did not entirely trust. Shortly after, following the country’s first referendum however, the supreme leader assumed ultimate authority and his IRGC began to operate as a sort of parallel state and answered only to the Ayatollah himself.
The Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) transformed the force into a more conventional fighting army, with a structure similar to that of the western military, albeit religiously fanatical. By the end of the war, the IRGC had built up impressive military, engineering, logistical and construction capabilities and was largely seen as being, almost single-handedly, responsible for rebuilding the nation. It now controls great swathes of Iran’s economy, particularly energy, security, communications, media and construction. Most importantly, it runs Iran’s ballistic missile programme.
Best known in the West for ruthlessly, horrifically suppressing dissent and strictly enforcing Islamic codes, they now number in excess of a million full-time conscripts and part-time volunteers, and have successfully infiltrated every facet of Iranian life. Furthermore, with a constitutional commitment to ‘export the revolution’ the IRGC has proactively sponsored and supported such factions as Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Houthis.
Regarded as a multi-headed Hydra, it is as equally political as it is economic and its revolving-door between the religious and governmental entities are well-documented. Consequently, at least thirty IRGC generals were assassinated in the twelve-day war with Israel last year and they have been, along with the supreme leader, specifically targeted during this conflict. They remain, however, arguably the most powerful and unconstrained actor in the Middle East today and their influence continues unabated. Keep everything crossed that both the fragile two-week ceasefire holds and subsequent negotiations in Pakistan bear long-term and long-lasting fruit.
