At a moment when Israeli agents and their allied operatives appear to regularly penetrate Iran and freely target its nuclear program, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp. (IRGC) appears fixated instead on domestic activists and dual citizens it accuses of espionage.
That disconnect is raising questions – even among staunch Iran loyalists – about how an authoritarian regime obsessed with “infiltrators” has become so vulnerable to external threats. One root issue appears to be the cost of an ideological military force that sees itself as much more: The often hubristic self-image of the IRGC, created to “protect” the 1979 Islamic Revolution, has outstripped its capabilities.