Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps established covert cells in Iraq during the war to carry out attacks on Gulf states that host U.S. forces, according to a Reuters report citing eight Iraqi sources. The sources said the move gave Tehran a force that answered directly to Iran, outside the usual network of Shiite militias, while reducing the risk of exposure.
The report said the cells, three or four in total, were made up of about 10 elite Shiite fighters each. Operating from desert areas in southern Iraq near Basra and Samawah, they launched at least seven suicide drones between April 20 and May 17.
Those attacks were aimed at targets in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Among the sites hit or targeted were Kuwait’s Ali al-Salem air base, where U.S. troops are deployed, and a military terminal at Kuwait International Airport. The strikes on Saudi Arabia and the UAE were intercepted.
The Iraqi sources included security and military officials as well as local militia commanders. Experts and militia figures said the secret-cell structure marks a major tactical shift for the IRGC, allowing Iran to maintain regional reach at a time when its proxy network, the so-called Axis of Resistance, has suffered heavy blows.
The sources also said Iran’s financial and military resources have been badly strained by the recent war. In that context, the smaller, covert cells are meant to keep military activity going under tighter constraints while lowering the chance of direct Iranian involvement and retaliation.
