General Mohammad Ali Jafari, commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), has admitted that he was taken by surprise by the sheer “magnitude” of protests that erupted following the announcement of the 2009 presidential election.
Speaking to the semi-official Fars news agency on the anniversary of the formation of the elite fighting force in April 1979, the IRGC commander said that in guarding the revolution “we do not have any constraints or limitations.”
Jafari argued that his organisation’s role was not limited to military activities, while adding, “the IRGC is not merely a military organisation, but a security, cultural, ideological, political and military one, which means that the IRGC is expected to have many types of functions in order to be able to protect the Revolution and its results in the domains of culture, politics, economics, society, security and intelligence.”
