If true, significant
馃毃 Armed clashes between the Iranian Army and the IRGC are reportedly erupting inside Iran.
According to Alhurra, citing informed military and political sources inside Iran, tensions between the regular Army and the IRGC have escalated into armed confrontations in Tehran, Tabriz, Isfahan, and Ahvaz following the death of Khamenei.
If true, this points to serious fractures inside the Islamic Republic鈥檚 military and security apparatus at one of the most dangerous moments in the regime鈥檚 history.
The backdrop here is important. The founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khomeini, originally created the IRGC because he feared a military coup from the regular Iranian Army after the revolution.
Over decades, the regime transformed the IRGC into a parallel military empire, giving it far more funding, political influence, economic control, and ideological favoritism than the regular Army.
Over decades, the regime transformed the IRGC into a parallel military empire, giving it far more funding, political influence, economic control, and ideological favoritism than the regular Army.
While the Army was often sidelined and distrusted, the IRGC became the regime鈥檚 real power center, controlling major sectors of the economy, missile forces, intelligence operations, and proxy networks across the region.