Why Trump Might Target Iran’s Revolutionary Guard: QuickTake Q&A

President Donald Trump’s administration is weighing whether to list Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, a decision that would have economic, political and geopolitical implications because of the enormous might it wields. A move against the Guards -- the official protector of the Islamic revolution -- would fit with Trump’s push to get tough on Iran, whose 2015 nuclear agreement with six world powers, he argues, will "give" the country nuclear weapons. Trump’s administration warned it was putting Iran "on notice" for test-firing a ballistic missile on Jan. 29. The U.S. accuses Iran of violating United Nations restrictions on its ballistic missile program. Iran says the program is a sovereign affair and doesn’t contravene UN resolutions because it isn’t aimed at conveying atomic weapons. The Revolutionary Guards control the ballistic missile program.

The 100,000-strong corps was established at the outset of the 1979 Islamic revolution as a trusted security force at a time when the military’s loyalty to Iran’s new leaders was unclear. The nation’s premier security force, the corps has its own ground, air and naval divisions as well as a chain of command separate from the military that leads directly to Iran’s highest authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Guards have amassed sweeping commercial interests, including in the energy and construction industries. In recent years, Revolutionary Guards have provided military support to President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, a strategic ally of Iran.