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The Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution ((ペルシア語: سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی ) / , or ''Sepāh'' for short), often called Revolutionary Guards or Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps ("IRGC") by the English-speaking or U.S. media, is a branch of Iran's Armed Forces, founded after the Iranian revolution on 5 May 1979.〔IISS Military Balance 2006, Routledge for the IISS, London, 2006, p. 187〕 Whereas the regular military (''artesh'') defends Iran's borders and maintains internal order, according to the Iranian constitution, the Revolutionary Guard (''pasdaran'') is intended to protect the country's Islamic system.〔("Profile: Iran's Revolutionary Guards" ). BBC. 18 October 2009.〕 The Revolutionary Guards state that their role in protecting the Islamic system is preventing foreign interference as well as coups by the military or "deviant movements". The Revolutionary Guards have roughly 125,000 military personnel including ground, aerospace and naval forces. Its naval forces are now the primary forces tasked with operational control of the Persian Gulf.〔("The Consequences of a Strike on Iran: The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy" ) ''GlobalBearings.net'', 15 December 2011.〕 It also controls the paramilitary Basij militia which has about 90,000 active personnel.〔Abrahamian, Ervand, ''History of Modern Iran'', Columbia University Press, 2008 pp. 175–76〕 In recent years it has developed into a "multibillion-dollar business empire,"〔 and is reportedly the "third-wealthiest organization in Iran" after the National Iranian Oil Company and the Imam Reza Endowment. Its media arm is Sepah News.〔(Picture imperfect'' ) 9 March 2013 ''The Economist''〕 Since its origin as an ideologically driven militia, the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution has taken an ever more assertive role in virtually every aspect of Iranian society. Its expanded social, political, military, and economic role under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's administration—especially during the 2009 presidential election and post-election suppression of protest—has led many analysts to argue that its political power has surpassed even that of the Shia clerical system.〔〔 〕 The Chief Commander of the Guardians is Mohammad Ali Jafari, who was preceded by Yahya Rahim Safavi. ==Terminology== In Iran, due to the frequent use of referencing government organizations with one word names (that generally denote their function) as opposed to acronyms or shortened versions, the entire general populace universally refer to the organization as Sepāh. ''Sepāh'' has a historical connotation of soldiers, while in modern Persian it is also used to describe a corps sized unit, in modern Persian ''Artesh'' is the more standard term for an army. The Iranian Government, media, and those who identify with the organization generally use Sepāh e Pāsdārān (Army of Guardians), although it is not uncommon to hear Pāsdārān e Enqelāb (پاسداران انقلاب) (Guardians of the Revolution), or simply Pāsdārān (پاسداران) (Guardians) as well. It should be noted though that among the Iranian population, and especially among diaspora Iranians, using the word ''Pasdaran'' normally indicates admiration for the organization. Most foreign governments and the English-speaking mass media tend to use the term Iranian Revolutionary Guards ("IRG") or simply the Revolutionary Guards. In the US media, the force is frequently referred to as the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps ("IRGC"), although this force is rarely described as a "corps" by non-US media. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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