Has Trump misunderstood Iran’s IRGC and the Basij forces?

On Saturday, as the United States and Israel attacked Iran, US President Donald Trump sent a message to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) conscripts, demanding they surrender or die.

“To the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the armed forces and all of the police, I say tonight that you must lay down your weapons and have complete immunity,” Trump said. “Or in the alternative, face certain death. So, lay down your arms. You will be treated fairly with total immunity, or you will face certain death.”

Instead, they retaliated with drone and missile attacks on Israel and multiple Arab states that host US assets in the region. Early on Sunday morning, Iranian state television announced that one of the strikes on Tehran killed its longtime supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

If Trump’s appeal to the IRGC was aimed at inspiring defections or abdications, it does not seem to have had the intended effect. So why did Trump’s call for the IRGC to lay down their arms fall on deaf ears?

Here’s everything you need to know:

What is the IRGC

It is an elite armed force and a constitutionally recognised component of the Iranian military, established in 1979 after the Islamic revolution. It operates alongside the country’s regular army but answers directly to the supreme leader.

In fact, its doctrine is built on velayat-e faqih, or guardianship of the Islamic jurist, essentially the protection of the Islamic revolution and its fealty to the supreme religious leader, initially Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who died in 1989 and was succeeded by Khamenei.

It is composed of ground, naval and air forces troops and includes an internal security paramilitary militia known as Basij. It also has an external operations force called the Quds Force, which is focused on special operations outside Iranian territory.

What does the IRGC do?

It plays a key role in Iran’s defence, foreign operations and regional influence with its 190,000 or so active personnel and a total of 600,000 if reserves are included. The IRGC manages Iran’s ballistic missile programme, is responsible for security for the country’s nuclear programme and coordinates with its regional allies in what is described as the “axis of resistance”.

The IRGC has been heavily sanctioned by various states. The US designated it an FTO (foreign terrorist organisation) in 2019. The European Union did the same in February 2026, prompting Tehran to respond by naming all EU member states, naval and air forces, as terrorist organisations the same month.

The IRGC, however, is also deeply entrenched in Iran’s political and economic structures. Its economic role expanded during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, as it handled engineering and logistics to sustain Iran’s war effort. Firms affiliated with the IRGC reportedly have contracts in key sectors such as Iran’s natural resources, transport, infrastructure, telecommunications, and mining. Iranian officials call this the “resistance economy” and say this is part of how the country has circumvented sanctions.

What is the Basij?

Also founded by Khomeini in 1979, the Basij is a volunteer paramilitary force that falls under the IRGC and enlists civilians motivated by their devotion to the country, though some analysts say young men also sign up for privileges and economic betterment.

The group is considered to be deeply ideological, often made up of young, working-class men. There are an estimated 450,000 personnel in the group, according to the Institute for the Study of War, though that also includes members who manage the group’s communications and sociocultural programmes.

Basij personnel are often deployed on the front lines of protests and have played a large role in countering uprisings against the government in recent years, including the 2009 Green Revolution and the 2022-23 Woman, Life, Freedom protests.

During the Iran-Iraq war, Basij members volunteered and were deployed to the front lines. They were encouraged to undertake “martyrdom missions”, wherein they would clear minefields in “human waves” to clear the battlefield for more experienced soldiers to advance.

Read More

Who might succeed in Iran's theocratic system of power?

Michael Mulroy, former deputy assistant secretary of defence (DASD) for the Middle East, told Al Jazeera: “In Iran, you have the supreme leader, of course, but there are multiple different power centres in the clerical, in the military, in the IRGC, in the intelligence service. They are unlikely to comply with what President Trump has done, and Israel.”

“Everything that they are saying right now, including recent statements from [Ali] Larijani, is that they intend to escalate this and essentially turn the region into an all-out war, causing as much pain not only to the United States but also against the Gulf countries in the region,” Mulroy said, referring to the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran.

Ideology and loyalty to the Islamic revolution and the supreme leader are key ideological tenets of the IRGC. But even beyond that, the economic and social power that many members receive makes it unlikely that a mass abdication will occur.

In fact, some analysts believe the latest attacks on Iran and the assassination of Khamenei might even expand the IRGC’s control over the Iranian state.

Director of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative, Jonathan Panikoff, said an end of the current regime in Iran is less likely to lead to a democracy than a “military-controlled state that might offer a new supreme leader as a symbolic token to millions of conservative Iranians, but with power firmly vested in the hands” of the IRGC.

The IRGC is still very likely in control, despite a turbulent year for Iran.

After Israel’s war on Iran in 2025, the government grappled with relaxing social freedoms and appointing advisers to reach the country’s youth in an effort to improve national morale and ease public discontent.

Still, in January, Iran erupted in antigovernment protests, with analysts saying economic hardships from years of sanctions and government mismanagement were a key cause.

In terms of the group’s organisational capacity, it replaced the leaders assassinated during the 2025 war with Israel. And during that time, Khamenei also reportedly appointed three potential successors and named a series of replacements throughout the military chain of command.