Analysis by PMOI/MEK
April 29, 2019 – Two international experts explained the threats and terrorist activities posed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Quds force across the Middle East.
Seth G. Jones chair, director, and senior advisor to the Transnational Threats Project explained how the IRGC Quds Force is acting as the Iranian regime extraterritorial arm.
“The IRGC Quds Force is Iran’s primary military actor in the Middle East. It competes with countries like the United States by training, advising, and equipping sub-state forces, including Shiite militias in Iraq, Hezbollah in Lebanon,” Jones said in an interview
“Iran’s goal with the base like in Lebanon is to improve the capabilities of its local actors,” Jones added. He continued to say that Iran has such basis in Syria, too, with the aim of bringing these actors from all over these locations for training.
He also explained the setbacks Iran regime experienced in its eight-year war with Iraq.
“One of the things Iran recognized in the 1980s in its war with Iraq is that Iran was never going to be a major conventional power. Between 2011 and 2019, we see a lot more Shiite militia and other fighters that work with the IRGC Quds Force in Yemen, in Syria, in Iraq, in Lebanon, in Afghanistan and Pakistan and Bahrain. The reason Iran has more training facilities is that it has got more fighters to train,” Jones concluded.
Joseph S. Bermudez Jr., a Senior Fellow for Imagery Analysis, also corroborated on the threats posed by the IRGC Quds Force. He said the mullahs’ regime of Iran is using military bases, such as the so-called Imam Ali base near Tehran, the capital of Iran, to train militants.
“The Imam Ali training facility in Iran is located on the outskirts of Tehran. This was a small facility until 2008. But it is much larger and comprehensive and capable now,” Mr. Bermudez said. “As a whole, the base is training personnel to operate in guerrilla warfare, which is considered regular warfare type scenarios.”
