Iran's Qods Force

The end of the Cold War ushered in a challenging new era for U.S. defense planners.The certainties of planning for conventional war or, in extremis, nuclear war gave way to a new form of unconventional warfare waged by American adversaries like Al Qaeda, Somali warlords, and Iran.Iran's Qods Forceexamines how one nation state, the Islamic Republic of Iran, has exploited the advantages of unconventional warfare to expand its influence in theMiddle East while, at the same time, limiting the impact of U.S. powerin the region.At theforefrontof its efforts is the Qods Force, the elite clandestine wing ofIran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

OwenSirrsanalyzeshow Iran uses unconventional warfare to trytoachieve one of its most cherishedobjectives,hegemonyover the Middle East,and demonstrateshow U.S. policymakers and warfighters were repeatedly stymied by Iran's unconventional warfare strategy,which straddled the threshold between conventional and covert warfare.Iran pursuesits hegemonic bideventhoughit lacks many of the accepted attributes of national power like a strong, diversifiedeconomy;amodernized, power-projectionmilitary;and allies to balance the strength of its many adversaries.Still, as the book explains through specific examples of Iranian covert action in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, Iranis closer to regional leadership in 2021 than at any time in the last three hundred years.

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