Mark D. Silinsky - Empire of Terror: Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

Insightful, important, and timely.... A virtual state within a state, [the Guards] have exerted tremendous influence on Irans politics, foreign policy, and economy. This is essential reading for all those who are interested in how the regime has managed to destabilize the Middle East and carve out an arc of domination known as the Shiite Crescent from Lebanon to Yemen.

Ofira Seliktar, professor emerita at Gratz College and coauthor of Iran, Revolution, and Proxy Wars

Mark Silinsky has the knowledge and the imagination to place the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a key Iranian institution, in the context of other totalitarian regimes, specifically the Soviet and Nazi regimes. The resultever so timely in the aftermath of the Qasem Soleimani executionis a compelling guide.

Daniel Pipes, president of the Middle East Forum and publisher of Middle East Quarterly

Mark Silinsky combines a deep and broad knowledge of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with a deep understanding of what is going on in todays Iran. He makes a powerful case for greater understanding of contemporary Iranian politics in helping the West to manage a seemingly intractable problem... and he does so with prose that is informal and engaging.

Christopher Coker, director of LSE IDEAS , a think tank at the London School of Economics and Political Science

Mark Silinsky has expertly exposed the depraved and fanatical practices of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, giving us valuable insight into their roles in international terrorism and the oppression of the Iranian people.

Christine Sixta Rinehart, associate professor of political science at the University of South Carolina and author of Sexual Jihad: The Role of Islam in Female Terrorism

Like Nazi Germany and the USSR, the Islamic Republic of Iran is founded on an ideology that is both imperialistic and totalitarian. Mark Silinsky skillfully demonstrates the disturbing parallels between these three toxic regimes, showing how Shiite millenarian thinking makes the Iranian regimes ideology especially dangerous. All who wish to deepen their understanding of the Iranian threat to the civilized world should read this book.

Joseph S. Spoerl, professor of philosophy at Saint Anselm College

Mark D. Silinsky

Potomac Books

An imprint of the University of Nebraska Press

2021 by Mark D. Silinsky

Cover designed by University of Nebraska Press; cover image iStock / davidhills.

The views expressed in the manuscript are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense, the U.S. Intelligence Community, or the U.S. Government. The appearance of external hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the United States Department of Defense ( D o D ) of the linked websites, or the information, products, or services contained therein.

All rights reserved. Potomac Books is an imprint of the University of Nebraska Press.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Silinsky, Mark, author.

Title: Empire of terror: Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps / Mark D. Silinsky.

Description: Lincoln: Potomac Books, An imprint of the University of Nebraska Press, [2021] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020037059

ISBN 9781640123137 (hardback)

ISBN 9781640124387 (epub)

ISBN 9781640124400 (pdf)

Subjects: LCSH : Siph-i Psdrn-i Inqilb-i Islm (Iran) | IranHistory1997 | IranMilitary policy.

Classification: LCC UA 853. I 7 S 55 2021 | DDC 355.3/70955dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020037059

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

For professor and mentor Michael Howard, 19222019. Thank you, Sir Michael, and may you rest in peace.

Born of the sun, they traveled a short while toward the sun. And left the vivid air signed with their honor.

Stephen Spender, The Truly Great

Figures

Maps

There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.

Ernest Hemingway

This book has drawn exclusively upon primary and secondary open sources. Several resources were particularly useful. The Middle East Media Research Institute, MEMRI , is a nonprofit press monitoring and analysis organization with headquarters in Washington DC . MEMRI also translates the writings of liberals and reformists in Iran and provides analysis of the Iranian news. Much of the material presented here comes from Guards-produced media outlets, giving the perspective of the Guards in their own words. I also rely upon the strong economic data and analysis provided by the Economist magazines Intelligence Unit.

The book avoids detailed, system-specific information on Iranian orders of battle, for several reasons. First, information about a militarys strength fluctuates and is sometimes inaccurate. Further, as a United States defense intelligence officer I am very cautious about giving exact numbers about foreign militaries and weapon systems. Similarly, I give only cursory attention to Irans nuclear capabilities. It is well known that Iran has pursued a nuclear weapons capability for many years. I used only information that is available to the general public, particularly from Janes Defence Publications.

Think tanks such as the RAND Corporation, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and the Washington Institute for Near East Studies are rich resources for the subject covered in this book. For many issues involving military capabilities and nuclear weapons development, I turned to the Congressional Record. The most dismal literature comes from the pens of the victims of the Guards, many of whom remain emotionally broken and physically crippled.

A young editor at the British journal The Guardian has disparaged correcting grammatical errors as racialism, opining that offending editors are likely to be older, whiter, wealthier, or just plain academic and accusing them of practicing grammar snobbery. Perhaps she has a case. But this old, not-so-wealthy, white, wrinkled, and very plain academic has nothing but thanks to those who proofed and edited this book. As usual, my wife, Nadia, gave me indispensable help. If the book reads well, it is due, in large part, to her snobbery, for which I am and will always be grateful. I appreciate the corrections and revisions made by Dr. Daniel Pipes, one of the finest thinkers on the Middle East of his generation, or any other. I thank Ofira Seliktar, Joseph Spoerl, and Ronen Cohen, three of the best minds on Iran, who reviewed several chapters. My middle daughter, Leah, graced this book with selections from an article she wrote comparing propaganda in Iran to that of the Soviet Union. I am honored by her contribution.

I will always be indebted to the Potomac Books team who put this book into a shape that, hopefully, the consumer will find worth reading. I thank Taylor Rothgeb, acquiring editorial assistant, and Joeth Zucco, project editor, who guided me through Potomacs publication process. The copy editor, Irina du Quenoy, brought impressive professional competence and Middle Eastern experience and expertise that strengthened this book. It was delightful working with her on the first of what I hope will be many projects. Nathan Putens, a born graphic artist, designed the cover of Empire of Terror