Iran's IRGC: The Feared 'Pasdaran' Behind Deadly Crackdown

A research paper published this month by Saeid Golkar and Kasra Aarabi of the US-based think tank United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) said a shadowy IRGC unit known as the Tharallah Headquarters, responsible for security in Tehran, was the "most critical cog in the IRGC's security and suppressive apparatus". "It coordinates intelligence, policing, Basij militia, IRGC units, and psychological operations, ensuring that repression is not improvised but calibrated," said Golkar and Aarabi, adding that it "functions as the regime's operational brain during moments of unrest".