BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts.

Welcome to the briefing room with me, David Aronovich.

The briefing room is the mind chamber where, in the space of 28 minutes,

you and I get to understand a big issue with the help of the top experts on the subject.

This week, following the killing of Iranian general Kasim Soleimani and the retaliatory missile strikes on US air bases in Iraq, I am asking who are the Revolutionary Guard and what role will they play in what happens next. 2020 so far, a top Iranian military commander assassinated at the orders of a volatile American president.

Millions on the street chanting death to America and demanding revenge.

People worldwide with that, are we on the brink of war feeling?

If not tomorrow, there may be next week.

In the briefing room today, I'll be finding out what the actors in this drama really want

and where this crisis could lead. But I think we need to start by understanding more about the

unique organisation that the late General Kassan Soleimani belonged to, the Islamic

Revolutionary Guard, or IRGC.

From Washington, I was joined in the briefing room by Ali Alfone, author of Iran Unveiled

and Senior Fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute.

Ali Alphine, can you tell me, when was the IRGC formed?

It emerged from the revolutionary chaos of 1979.

The Iranian military declared its neutrality in the course of the revolution.

The United States government and the Carter administration also urged the military not to intervene in the process of the revolution.

In those days, there were some young people who attacked the police stations and the garrisons of the army,

looted arms, armed themselves, and started organizing small revolutionary committees.

Some of these individuals were just university students,

some of them were peasants, some of them opportunists, but there were also a group of professional

...