Report: Revolutionary Guard downsizing overseas ops
Ayatollah Khamenei reportedly orders Guards to scale back on ops exceeding Iran's immediate neighbors due to financial crisis following sanctions
Iran's Revolutionary Guard has been ordered to downsize all overseas operations, the United Arab Emirates-based al-Arabiya network reported Saturday.
According to the report, the directive was decreed by the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and includes all Revolutionary Guard's units operation outside Iran, including the Quds Force.
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The Quds Force is widely considered as the Guard's black-ops unit and is routinely tasked with carrying out operations outside Iran.
It has several thousand members and according to international experts, it is especially active in the Middle East.
Khamenei reportedly ordered the force to scale back global operations, especially those in Africa and Latin America, in favor of focusing on the Islamic Republic's immediate neighbors in the Persian Gulf.
The report, which quoted a high-ranking official in the Revolutionary Guard, cited both a concern in Tehran from a possible strike on the country's nuclear facilities, as well as growing economic constraints stemming from the West's sanctions on Iran.
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