When the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was founded in the early days of the Iranian revolution, it was an ideologically motivated but militarily improvised force. Thirty-five years later, the IRGC has become the institutional engine of one of the most thoroughly prepared asymmetric warfare doctrines in modern military history - and the current war is testing every element of it.
Narges Bajoghli of Johns Hopkins SAIS wrote in Foreign Affairs that the doctrine was built through real combat across multiple theaters over nearly four decades, "Hvylya" reports.
It began with necessity. During the Iran-Iraq War, a US arms embargo cut Iran off from conventional weapons while Iraq drew on Western, Soviet, and Gulf support. Iran improvised with mine warfare, irregular fighters, and tactics that did not require expensive hardware. That improvisation became doctrine: a vast military-industrial infrastructure, deliberately cultivated nonstate allies, and forward defense beyond Iran's borders.
Each subsequent conflict added a new layer. In Lebanon, the IRGC helped build Hezbollah into a genuine military force. After the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, Iranian-backed militias developed techniques for fighting the world's most powerful conventional army - roadside bomb networks, intelligence-driven targeting, and partner militias that provided deniability. The Syrian civil war produced a new generation of IRGC commanders with advanced operational experience.
Bajoghli argued that the results are now visible. "The same decentralized logistics networks that Iran built to move fighters and materiel through Iraq and Syria are now being used to maintain supply chains under bombardment," she wrote. The IRGC has kept functioning despite the assassination of senior commanders - a resilience that only decades of institutional preparation could produce.
"Hvylya" earlier reported on why the erosion of Pax Americana leaves multiple regions exposed to competing powers.