Since Saturday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Crops (IRGC) has launched
numerous attacks on Iranian Kurdish separatist groups in northern Iraq—the
Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan and the Democratic Party of Iranian
Kurdistan. The groups had shown their support for Iranians protesting the
killing of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who died in the custody of Iran’s
Morality Police after being arrested for wearing her hijab incorrectly.





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Iran’s IRGC Launches Cross-Border Attacks In Iraq To Quell Support For Protest
Movement



(New York, N.Y.) — Since Saturday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Crops
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(IRGC) haslaunched
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numerous attacks on Iranian Kurdish separatist groups in northern Iraq—the
Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan and the Democratic Party of Iranian
Kurdistan. The groups had shown their support for Iranians protesting the
killing of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who died in the custody of Iran’s
Morality Police after being arrested for wearing her hijab incorrectly. Her
death prompted demonstrations throughout the country and abroad against the
theocratic regime, leading to the IRGC—which is tasked with defending the
Iranian regime against internal and external threats—to retaliate.



To read the Counter Extremism Project (CEP)’s resource Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Crops (IRGC), please click here
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.



The IRGC uses terrorist tactics against its enemies abroad through its Quds
Force and secret police methods against its opponents within Iran through its
Basij militia. Its loyalty to Supreme Leader AyatollahAli Khamenei
<[link removed]> is considered a
religious imperative.



The Quds Force specializes in foreign missions, providing training, funding
and weapons to extremist groups, including Iraqi insurgents, Hezbollah, and
Hamas. The Quds Force allegedly participated in the 1994 suicide bombing of an
Argentine Jewish community center, killing more than 80 and wounding about 300.
In the years since, it has armed anti-government militants in Bahrain, and
assisted in a 2011 assassination attempt on Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the
United States. The group’s commander is Brigadier GeneralIsmail Ghaani
<[link removed]>, who was appointed
to the role after the January 3, 2020, assassination of Major GeneralQasem
Soleimani <[link removed]> in Iraq.



Inside Iran’s borders, the IRGC’s Basij militia are attempting to suppress the
protestors. The Basij are infamous for their recruitment of volunteers, many of
them teenage children, for human wave attacks on Iraqi forces during the
Iran-Iraq War in which thousands died. Following the Iran-Iraq War, the Basij
assumed a police role in Iran to maintain loyalty to the regime and suppress
protests. Today, the Basij has two missions: providing military training to
regime supporters in preparation of resisting foreign invasion and helping
suppress domestic opposition to the regime through street violence and
intimidation.



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