As voted for, here my (lengthy) thread on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Naval Branch (IRGCN), and their capabilities, equipment as well as a timeline from last years tanker crisis in the Persian Gulf.

First of all I want to thank Aleph ( @no_itsmyturn) for the support and
Retweets, which have meant that my tweets have reached a wider audience and also meant that this account continues to grow.

Ok so what is the IRGC? The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is a branch of the Iranian Armed Forces, founded after the Iranian Revolution in 1979
According to the Iranian constitution, "the Revolutionary Guard is intended to protect the country's Islamic republic political system.The Revolutionary Guards base their role in protecting the Islamic system as well as preventing foreign interference and coups."
But in this thread, we'll be looking that the naval branch of the IRGC:

The naval branch consists of 20,000 marines, 1,500 boats and fast attack boats, which are seperated from the Iranian Navy, the disciplines of the two forces are quite different in the way they operate and
Tactics, over the last few years the IRGC's Naval forces have steadily improved its capabilities to support unconventional warfare and defend Iran's offshore facilities, coastlines, and islands in the Persian Gulf from the so called western threat..
As we all know, they've also become quite effective at harrasing shipping, seizing tankers illegally, harrasing naval vessels and ignoring warnings not to do the above, but we'll get onto that.

Ok so equipment, the IRGCNs primary source of equipment is civilian class craft that
Are typically viewed as a non threat by armchair generals, and a large number of people who have seen recent videos of them in action, this is the wrong approach as If used correctly, these craft can inflict a large amount of damage, one of the ways this can happen is through
The "swarm attack". For example. If the IRGC chose to target a single or two NATO surface fleet ships with a dozen or so of these craft, there is a chance that some damage could be done, however this is unlikely due to the pure deadly accuracy of CIWS other weapons systems
On NATO warships compared to the weapon systems on the civilian craft of the IRGCN, which are equipped with a few men with either small arms or a fitted DShK to the upper structure of the boat, although we've previously seen MANPADS fitted which leads me on to my next method
In which the IRGCN is able to cause problems for Western naval forces, being the ability to possibly shoot down helicopters deployed from surface ships using these MANPADS, which poses a large threat to said helicopters, giving the Iranians the upper hand in certain situations.
In summary the IRGCNs civilian specification fast attack craft realistically would not be at all effective if a confrontation was to become "hot" due to their vulnerability to CIWS and other weapons systems as well as their lack of accuracy due the lack of displacement
Meaning that due to this, the personnel on the boats will be unlikely to actually get an accurate shot off at the intended target, due to how much the boats move in the wate regardless of the range. It sounds simple but it's an important point.
The IRGCN specializes in asymmetric hit-and-run tactics. It is more comparable a guerrilla force at sea, and maintains large arsenals of coastal defense and anti-ship cruise missiles and mines, It has also a special force unit, called the Sepah Navy Special Force (S.N.S.F.)
The unit has marines, frogmen and snipers specializing in heliborne, amphibious warfare and naval boarding techniques. Picture below (left) shows a frogman equipped with a 1980s style MP5 on exercise in 2015. Right picture shows a marine with an AK74 with no attachments or sights
Which says alot considering this is the so called elite force of the IRGCN...

The IRGCN also has a decent number of missile and torpedo craft which are outlined below:

10x Thondar class missile boat
10x Tir II torpedo boats
10x Peykaap class torpedo boats
12x Saraj craft
In terms of the specific missiles operated it's mostly Chinese rip-offs and nothing really worthy of commenting on to be honest, the IRGCN also operates a number of MI-17 helicopters as part of the SNSF boarding teams in which were seen in action last year.
Which now leads me on nicely to the second part of this thread, the timeline of events involving from May 2019 to April 2020 in the Persian Gulf.

MAY 2019:

Hostilities rose when SecDef (at the time) John Bolton announced that 4x B-52 nuclear capable bombers and the
USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to the region after Israeli intelligence reported an imminent attack against US forces by Iran and its proxies (Hezbollah etc), the carrier strike group was CSG12 and CAW7 equipped with F-18 Hornets were onboard the carrier at the time
USCEMTCOM announced that F-15C Eagle fighter jets would be deployed to the Middle East, alongside the USS Arlington (a marine transport ship) and a patriot SAM system, here's where the IRGCN come in..
On 12 May, four commercial ships, including two Saudi Aramco oil tankers, were damaged near the port of Fujairah in the Gulf of Oman, the US released footage showing the IRGCN attaching a mine to the hull of one of the tankers, which, needless to say, escalated things somewhat..
JUNE 2019

After more deployments of troops and aircraft, On 13 June 2019 two oil tankers caught fire after allegedly being attacked by limpet mines or flying objects in another incident in the Gulf of Oman. As in the May incident, the U.S. blamed Iranian forces for the attacks..
As the incident was similar to the one a month earlier. On 17 June, the U.S. announced the deployment of 1,000 more soldiers to the Middle East.
A week later a USN RQ-4 drone was shot down by IRGC air defence forces which showed that Iran was and is willing to go as far as ever.
President Trump ordered a retaliatory military strike on Iran on 20 June, but withdrew the order minutes before the operation began. Trump said he had decided to halt the operation after being told that as many as 150 Iranians would be killed against the views of SecDef and VP
Following the drone shoot-down, the U.S. continued to deploy military assets to the region. By 28 June, the U.S. had deployed nearly a dozen F-22 Raptor fighter jets to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar after many many sanctions were put on Iran.
JULY 2019:

On the 18th of July USS Boxer assault carrier caused an Iranain drone to crash after it was jammed by electronic countermeasures on the ship, and may have downed a second, but not confirmed.

Now here's the part where it really gets close to a conflict scenario
On 4 July, the ship Grace 1 was seized by British authorities while carrying out an off-port limited logistics stop in Gibraltar, on suspicion that the vessel was carrying oil to Syria in breach of European Union sanctions. A force of 30 Royal Marines boarded the ship from RHIBs
And a Wildcat helicopter via fast rope with support from an echo class survey vessel, this undoubtedly was going to have repercussions in the Gulf as was shortly to be discovered. The Iranians immediately condemned the legal seizure and promised retaliation.
On 11 July, the Royal Navy frigate HMS Montrose foiled an Iranian attempt to capture the BP-owned British oil tanker British Heritage as it transited through the Strait of Hormuz. Three boats believed to be from the IRGC approached the tanker and tried to halt it, after which
HMS Montrose, which had been shadowing the tanker, moved between the boats and the tanker and trained guns on the boats, warning them to back off. The Iranian boats then turned away and headed back to the mainland, * mission failed, we'll get em next time *
Type 45 destroyer HMS Duncan was deployed to the region to assist Montrose in escoring UK shipping through the Strait of Homuz, On 20 July, the British-flagged tanker Stena Impero was seized in a raid by IRGC forces. Four small boats and a helicopter stopped the ship..
Iranian commando boarding team fast roped onboard from the MI-17 helicopter. The ship was taken to Bandar Abbas port and its crew of 23 detained on board. Iran said the Stena Impero had collided with and damaged an Iranian vessel, and ignored warnings by Iranian authorities.
AUGUST 2019:

On the 4th of August the IRGCN seized an Iraqi tanker for allegedly smuggling oil to other Arab countries. The seven crew members on board were detained, further heightening tensions in the Persian Gulf.
A week and a half later the Grace 1 tanker was released
Against the wishes of the US treasury and Department of Justice, the Newly renamed "Adrian Darya 1" then departed Gibraltar after being blacklisted by the US, somewhat beginning to ease tensions
SEPTEMBER 2019:

The tanker "Adrian Darya 1"released from Gibraltar was photographed by satellite off the Syrian Coast, defying international law and the UK especially.
On 14 September, the 2019 Abqaiq–Khurais attack took place, a coordinated cruise missile and drone attack that
Targeted the state-owned Saudi Aramco oil processing facilities at Abqaiq and Khurais in eastern Saudi Arabia further escalating the current gulf crisis, as Saudi Arabia lost around a third of its oil output due to the attack
On 27 September, the British oil tanker Stena Impero departed from Iranian waters after around two months, the remainder of the ship's 23 crew members who were detained in Iran were released as well, however tension remained high due to the seizure of another (Iraqi) tanker.
NOVEMBER 2019:

On 7 November 2019, International Maritime Security Construct (IMSC) launched official operations in Bahrain to protect the shipping lanes near the troubled Iranian territorial waters, which provoked a reaction from the Iranian leadership, as they felt that
It was a so called violation of sovereignty. The task force was led by the US and UK

DECEMBER 2019:
On 27 December, Iran, Russia, and China began a four-day naval exercise in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Oman. The exercise was launched from Chabahar Port near Pakistan
It included the Chinese Type 051 destroyer Xining and other Chinese vessels .The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that it had deployed ships from the Baltic fleet in its official newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda. The exercise was seen to be a threat toward the IMSC.
On December 27th the K-1 airbase is Kirkuk came under katyusha rockets fired from a unit of Iraqi Hezbollah, acting under the influence and orders of Iran, this attack injured 7 Iraqi military personnel and killed 1 US contractor, prompting a response from the USAF 2 days later
Which targeted Hezbollah facilities in Iraq and Syria killing 25 militants and injuring at least 55 others, *so get rekt m8*

To top-off a fairly eventful month, On 31 December, Iran-backed militiamen under the Popular Mobilization Forces attacked the outer perimeter of the
US embassy in Baghdad, they were fortunately unable to gain access and the perimeter defence was reinforced by 100 US Marines from the Rapid Reaction Force who were transported to the embassy via Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft
JANUARY 2020:

On December 3rd a US drone strike killed Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad, Iraq alongside other senior officials from the IRGC and Iraqi leadership, Shortly after the attack, the U.S. deployed an additional 3,000 ground troops to the Middle East.
Trump warned Iran on 4 January against attacking U.S. assets or any Americans in the region. He threatened that in the event of an Iranian attack, the U.S. would target 52 Iranian sites, including cultural sites, on the same say, the Royal Navy began convoy escorts in the Gulf.
After a massive amount of politics stuff regarding the nuclear deal and sanctions, the Iranains retaliated for the killing of their man in Baghdad, On 8 January 2020, Iraq's Al Asad Airbase,was attacked with 22 ballistic missiles as a part of Iran's "Operation Martyr Soleimani"
The attack caused damage to at least 5 structures and destroyed a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, it also meant 64 troops suffered from head related injuries due to the impacts/shockwaves, but overall, considering the amount of missiles, it was unsuccessful in achieving its goal.
Hours after the ballistic missile attacks, Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 crashed just after taking off from Tehran International Airport, killing all 176 passengers and crew, including 82 Iranian and 63 Canadian citizens, it was later deemed that it was accidentally
Shot down after (somehow) being mistaken for a US drone, On 26 January, three rockets were fired on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, wounding at least one staff member present at the cafeteria at dinner time, with the nationality of the wounded still undisclosed.
FEBRUARY 2020:

On 9 February, during routine maritime patrols, U.S. forces aboard the USS Normandy seized a cache of Iranian-made weapons aboard a dhow in the Arabian Sea that was purportedly en route to supply Houthi rebels in Yemen, including 3 Iranian SAMs and 150 ATGMs
MARCH 2020:

On 11 March, 15 Katyusha rockets struck Camp Taji, Iraq, killing two U.S. soldiers and one British soldier (Lcpl. Brodie Gillon *pictured*) from the RAMC, the attack was met with airstrikes from the USAF killing 6, (3 Iraqi soldiers, 2 policemen and 1 civilian)
On 14 March, another rocket attack struck Camp Taji; over 24 107mm caliber rockets struck the coalition compound and the Iraqi Air defenses installation there, injuring five coalition soldiers and two Iraqi soldiers, On 17 March, two rockets struck the Besmaya Range Complex.
The United States announced it would pull out of 3 of its Iraq bases around the same time, including the K-1 airbase.

APRIL 2020:

On 15 April, oil tanker SC Taipei sailing under the flag of Hong Kong was seized and released the same day by armed men (IRGCN) while on anchor.
And that's it (for now)...
After COVID-19 has died down I personally believe we'll see another spike in tensions between the USA and Iran, the Iranians are already facing social unrest over their handling of Coronavirus (or lack of) and undoubtedly the Iranian leadership will
Rectify this by seizing tankers and conducting rocket attacks through its militants in Iraq and Syria, because umm, well, Iran.

Thank you for reading and I'll do a poll on what you guys would like to see a thread on next
In the meantime you should definitely follow these accounts for the best OSINT content out there (if you aren't already!).

@no_itsmyturn @ELINTNews @air_intel @AuroraIntel @IntelDoge @GDarkconrad @IranianWatchdog @NotWoofers @theAlphaIntel @Archer83Able @IntelCrab

Thanks again
Stay safe everyone! Remember, wash your hands!
You can follow @skywatcherintel.
Tip: mention @twtextapp on a Twitter thread with the keyword “unroll” to get a link to it.

Latest Threads Unrolled: