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IRAN: Field Day for Militarists as Standoff with U.S. Continues
Analysis by Kimia Sanati
TEHRAN, Feb 15, 2007 (IPS) - Whether or not the military posturing by the United
States and Iran in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman actually results in armed hostilities, militarists in this country are having a field day.
While politicians such as Hashemi Rafsanjani, Khatami and Mehdi Karrubi
(reformist former parliament speaker) are seeking to lower tensions, the
militarists see an opportunity in the confrontation.
"Militarists are still craving for a confrontation with the U.S. because
this can strengthen their status," said an observer, who requested
anonymity. "Their future will depend on the outcome of the standoff."
Last week, Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards Corps' (IRGC) naval and air
forces staged a military manoeuvre in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman
near the Hormuz Strait to test-fire the newly acquired, Russian-made TOR
M-1 surface-to-air defence shield, claimed to be short-range by the
manufacturer.
The war games were the country's second since a Dec. 23 United Nations
resolution banned sale to Iran technology or material that could be used
in its nuclear or missile programmes. But Iran test-fired its short-range
missiles in January.
The military exercise held by IRGC's air wing and code-named 'Saeqeh'
(Thunderbolt) was designed to boost air defence and counter-attack "any
possible" offensive against the Iranian airspace, Brig. Gen. Hossein
Salami, the commander, was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news
agency.
The TOR M-1 air defence shield has a 12 km range which could be increased
to 20 km, Salami said and added that it is capable of rapidly tracing down
48 targets and engaging with eight, including cruise missiles
simultaneously. The system, capable of tracing modern Cruise missiles, was
successfully test-fired on the first of the two-day manoeuvres, Salami
said.
In addition to a number of other short and medium-range missiles, IRGC
deployed the SSN4 land-to-sea strategic missile in operations dubbed Ra'd
(Thunder) on the second day of the exercise, Rear Admiral Fadavi of IRGC
naval force was quoted saying. The missile can carry a 500-kg warhead and
is capable of targeting and destroying big warships, he said.
The military exercises were being carried out at a time the United States
is increasing its military presence in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of
Oman, and concerns are escalating about a possible U.S. military action
against Iran. The manoeuvres can be considered a response by the IRGC as a
military-political force.
The IRGC, the regular army and the law enforcement forces act under the
command of the Joint Staff of the armed forces. All chief commanders are
appointed by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who as Supreme Leader is
commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
IRGC is an over 200,000-strong force. Established immediately after the
Islamic Revolution, it has continued to serve alongside the regular army.
Growing fast and trusted much more than the regular armed forces of the
time that still had many members from the royal army, it was invested by
the Iranian Constitution with responsibility to "safeguard the Revolution
and its achievements."
"Being made responsible to safeguard the achievements of the Revolution
meant a dual role for IRGC, unlike the regular army that has always served
as an exclusively military body and has never got involved in political
disputes or factionalism, a role it still continues to play," an analyst
in Tehran told IPS.
Having air, naval and ground forces of its own, very much parallel to the
regular army, the IRGC has two additional divisions, namely, the Basij
militia and the vaguely defined Qods Force, a body said to have been
established originally to export the Islamic revolution to other
countries.
The Qods Force and its activities are kept pretty much in the shadows. The
five diplomats the U.S. army arrested in Irbil, northern Iraq, in January
allegedly belong to the Qods Force.
It is significant that on Wednesday, U.S. President George W. Bush accused
the Qods Force of distributing improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in
Iraq, though Iran denies this. "What we do know is that the Qods Force was
instrumental in providing these deadly IEDs to networks inside of Iraq.
What we don't know is whether or not the head leaders of Iran ordered the
Qods Force to do what they did."
Bush said whether the leaders in Tehran were directly involved or not, the
weapons were a threat to U.S.-led forces engaged in quelling sectarian
violence in Iraq. "I intend to do something about it ... we're going to
protect our troops," he said.
"IRGC recruited young revolutionaries over the years and trained and
prepared them for taking various responsibilities in the newly established
regime. Those who remained in the force after the end of the war with Iraq
(1980-1988) turned into a group that like militarists all around the world
insisted on playing a role in the country's politics and in determining
its strategies," the analyst in Tehran said.
"Demilitarisation, taking distance from fundamentalism, joining the
international community, resolving tensions and a move towards free
economy endangered their raison d'etre so they resisted all those changes
and formed one of the main cores of what later became the hard line
faction," he explained.
The Basij militia draws volunteers from among people of every walk of life
and almost every age. The militia is often accused by the opposition of
meddling in political affairs, factionalism and serving as a means to
guard hardliners' interests.
Both the IRGC and its militia wing were accused of influencing the
presidential elections in 2005 in favour of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and
conducting a character assassination campaign against his main rival,
Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, whose views on free market economy and
joining the international community were considered 'heretical' in spite
of his clerical status.
Since Ahmadinejad took office a little over a year and half ago, the IRGC
has turned into the country's biggest contractor, being granted more than
ten billion US dollars in gas pipeline projects. It is also a major
contractor in road construction and dam building.
Ahmadinejad is also giving the Basij militia, a national network of more
than 11 million members, priority in awarding government contracts in
provincial development projects. A number of his ministers have an IRGC
background and several deputy ministers have been directly recruited from
the force. "All these are ways the hard line militarist faction of the
regime can buy itself loyalty," the analyst said.
"Iranian reformists constantly refer to the last will of Ayatollah
Khomeini, the father of the Revolution, in which he admonished all armed
forces to keep away from interference in political factionalism," the
analyst pointed out.
Militarists, however, justify their involvement in politics claiming it is
their constitutional responsibility to 'guard the revolution' and the
Islamic Republic. "The war between militarists and politicians has been
going on for a long time now," an observer told IPS.
One of the instances of the confrontation between militarists and
politicians became public several months ago when in an interview the
IRGC's former chief commander, Mohsen Rezaiee, accused politicians of
lobbying to halt the Iran-Iraq war by accepting U.N. resolution 598,
"before victory could be achieved".
(END)
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