The Islamic Revolution's Guards Corps (IRGC) ( , Sepáh e Pásdárán e Enqeláb e Eslámi; literally: Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution), more commonly known in Iran as Sepah (Corps), also known as the Revolution's Guards (Pásdárán e Enqeláb پاسداران انقلاب ), or simply the Guards (Pásdárán پاسداران), is a branch of the Islamic Republic of Iran's military. The present Chief Commander of the Guards is Mohammed Ali Jafari, who was preceded by Yahya Rahim Safavi. Like many young Iranians during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, Iran's current president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was a member of the Guards.
In English language media, the force is usually referred to as the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
The IRG is separate from, and parallel to, the other arm of the Iran's military, which is called Artesh (another Persian word for army). IRG is equipped with its own ground forces, navy, air force, intelligence , and special forces. It also controls Basij force, which has a potential strength of eleven million, although Basij is a volunteer-based force, and consists of 90,000 regular soldiers and 300,000 reservists. The IRG is officially recognized as a component of the Iranian military under Article 150 of the Iranian Constitution.
In 2007, the International Institute for Strategic Studies Military Balance said the IRGC had at least 125,000 personnel. The balance estimated the IRGC Naval Forces at about 20,000 personnel.
