Ghods Force is Tasked to Spread the Revolution

Rooz Online

The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards force (IRGC) general Mohammad Ali Jaafari told reporters last week, “The mission of the Ghods Force is external, to help Islamic movements, to expand the revolution and to provide assistance to suffering people across the world and to people who need help in such countries as Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. The Guards help the Ghods Force. It views its duty to support and defend the nations under the hegemony of America and Israel and to provide them any technology, something that is even more important than the transfer of weapons. We have announced this in the past and are fulfilling this, and will respond to questions on these anywhere.”

Jaafari had made similar remarks earlier. On August 30 he had said, “Without a doubt one of the most important accomplishments of the holy defense (a reference to the 8-year Iran-Iraq war) was the export of the Islamic revolution to the world. The revolution and its ideals were exported.” Elsewhere in his remarks he also said, “The creation of resistance groups in Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Gaza against world arrogance (a reference to the US)” were modelled after Iran. “We have no doubt that one day we will have a war with the enemies of the Islamic revolution in the region, even though we will certainly not be the ones to start the war. But the conflict will take place and we have to be fully prepared for it,” he further said.

Jaafari’s general remarks have in fact been the foreign policy goals of the Islamic republic for years. But this is the first time that the commander of the IRGC has said that the Ghods Force has the role of expanding or exporting the revolution. Until now, “export of the revolution” had been defined and qualified as cultural activity.

A few days earlier, Hassan Rahim Poorazghodi, a regular speaker in Iran’s right wing circles and a member of the supreme council of the cultural revolution, made pertinent remarks in this regard. He said, “Many of ayatollah Khomeini’s goals have been changed in broad daylight. We have never heard him talk of relaxation of tension in foreign policy and all his comments were about exporting the revolution.”

Export of the revolution is a goal that is mentioned by all the various factions of the ruling circles in Iran. Even Hashemi Rafsanjani talked about it recently and presented his interpretation. He said exporting the revolution did not mean “invading countries or interfering in their internal affairs, but that if Islamic values were made to shine they would conquer hears.”

Iran’s top leader ayatollah Khamenei too has supported the notion of exporting the revolution. Speaking at the Tehran Friday congregational prayers in May of 2010 he said, “This is not the same as interfering in the domestic affairs of other countries, something that we do not go. This is different from exporting the revolution done by the colonial powers of yesterday. We do not do these things. What it means is that this movement should create a pleasant trail around the world, for nations to understand their duty, for Muslim nations to know what their identity is.”

In another speech in that same year Khamenei spoke again about the issue and said, “The goal is not to export the revolution to this or that country in the classic political sense. A revolution is not something that can be exported by political means, or by military and security means. This is wrong. We shut this approach from the beginning. Our issue is to reproduce the high values of Islam so that Muslims can sense their identity and feel good about themselves and so they learn of Islamic teachings which are saviors for mankind.”

In 2006 too Khamenei talked about this and said, “They used to think that we would use troops to export the revolution, or use security and intelligence for this, like they do. The message of our nation resonates among Muslim nations and they naturally become interested in us and supportive of us. They have and will do more every day.”

Right-wing Kayhan newspaper which operates under the supervision of an editor who is directly appointed by ayatollah Khamenei recently published a translated version of an article in the British Guardian newspaper which wrote, “Shiite communities welcome revolution and will cooperate with the Ghods Force. This force has Sunni allies too, such as Hamas and while criticizing some of its content used it as evidence that the Islamic republic was playing a positive role in strengthening Iraq’s security and stability.