Iran's Parallel Forces & Intelligence Protect Regime 🇮🇷

Iran's complex military and intelligence networks safeguard the regime through parallel armies and covert operations to prevent coups.

Iran's Parallel Forces & Intelligence Protect Regime 🇮🇷
Al Jazeera English
112.2K views • Mar 17, 2026
Iran's Parallel Forces & Intelligence Protect Regime 🇮🇷

About this video

Iran operates a deliberately complex military structure designed to prevent coups and absorb shocks. The country maintains two parallel armies—the regular Artesh and the ideological Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)—alongside multiple intelligence services and layered command structures, all ultimately answering to the Supreme Leader. The IRGC's Aerospace Force controls Iran's missile and drone arsenal, whilst the Quds Force manages regional networks across Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Yemen and Iraq. The system has proven resilient even after the killing of senior commanders, though its ability to adapt to faster, more complex challenges remains uncertain.

Al Jazeera's Ali Hashem explains.

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Views

112.2K

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Duration

3:14

Published

Mar 17, 2026

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