Middle Eastern Terrorist and Extremist Networks: Structure, Leadership, and Iranian Connections
The following items refer to highly dangerous terrorist groups, religious radicals, transnational extremism, and extremist ideologies operating in the Middle East and globally that are being pursued by governments, organizations, and international institutions.
These groups are responsible for killings, looting, beheadings, secret and public executions, arbitrary arrests, physical elimination of individuals, the establishment of infiltration networks aimed at influencing government policies and objectives, and numerous other forms of organized crime.
Based on the latest monitoring of official documents and the tracking of disclosures up to the date in 10-01-2026, the most comprehensive and accurate information regarding organizational structures, the identities of senior officials, classified operational divisions, and judges of the Revolutionary Courts has been compiled as follows.
Due to strict security protocols, the identities of officials at the provincial level (provincial directors-general) are consistently kept confidential. In administrative orders, these officials are identified only by titles such as "Provincial Director-General of Intelligence," without disclosing their names.
Furthermore, military developments and aerial attacks during the2026 resulted in the deaths of several senior Iranian intelligence officials, triggering successive changes within these organizational structures.
1. MOIS (Ministry of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic of Iran)
- Formation: This institution was established in 1983 (1362 in the Iranian calendar) following approval by the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Iranian Parliament) and the merger of various intelligence units formed after the Iranian Revolution.
- Current Leadership: The ministry is headed by Esmail Khatib.
- Headquarters: Tehran, Iran.
- Connection to the Islamic Republic of Iran: This institution is one of the official ministries and intelligence arms of the Iranian government. It has been sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury for human rights violations and malicious cyber activities.
2. IMCR (Islamic Resistance in Iraq)
(Note: The commonly used term in Washington security reports for this Shiite militia network is IRI, or Islamic Resistance in Iraq.)
- Formation: An umbrella coalition of Iran-aligned Iraqi Shiite militia groups that emerged in late 2023 following the outbreak of the Gaza war to conduct attacks against U.S. military bases.
- Current Leadership: This network has no single publicly identified leader and is administered by a joint command council composed of leaders from Kata'ib Hezbollah, Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, and Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada.
- Headquarters: Its operational bases and central command structures are located in Iraq and the border regions of Syria.
- Connection to the Islamic Republic of Iran: As part of the Axis of Resistance, this network receives weapons, financial resources, and direct drone and missile operational guidance from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force (IRGC-QF).
3. IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps)
- Formation: Established in May 1979 (Ordibehesht 1358) by order of Ayatollah Khomeini to protect the Islamic Revolution and establish a counterbalance to the traditional Iranian armed forces.
- Current Leadership: The organization is commanded by Major General Hossein Salami.
- Headquarters: Tehran, Iran.
- Connection to the Islamic Republic of Iran: It is the most powerful military and economic branch of the Islamic Republic of Iran and was designated by the United States as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) in 2019.
4. IRGC-QF (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps - Quds Force)
- Formation: Established during the Iran-Iraq War in the late 1360s (Iranian calendar) as the IRGC's external operations branch to export the Islamic Revolution.
- Current Leadership: The force is commanded by Brigadier General Esmail Qaani.
- Headquarters: Tehran, Iran, with field commands in Baghdad, Damascus, and Beirut.
- Connection to the Islamic Republic of Iran: It serves as the principal official arm of Iran's ruling establishment for organizing, arming, training, and directing Shiite proxy groups and allied organizations throughout the Middle East.
5. HAMAS | IQB (Hamas | Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades)
- Formation: The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) was founded in 1987 by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, while its military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, officially emerged in 1991.
- Current Leadership: Following recent assassinations, the organization is managed through a collective leadership structure, with key figures including Khaled Meshaal, Khalil al-Hayya, and Mohammed Sinwar in the military wing.
- Headquarters: Gaza Strip (field operations) and Doha, Qatar (political office).
- Connection to the Islamic Republic of Iran: Iran is a strategic ally and a principal supplier of advanced weapons, military training, and annual financial resources to this Palestinian organization.
6. KH (Kata'ib Hezbollah)
- Formation: Established in 2003 following the U.S. invasion of Iraq by Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis as an anti-American Shiite militia organization.
- Current Leadership: Following the death of al-Muhandis, operational leadership has been held by Abdulaziz al-Muhammadawi (Abu Fadak).
- Headquarters: Baghdad, Iraq, with key bases in Jurf al-Sakhar and the al-Qaim border region.
- Connection to the Islamic Republic of Iran: The group maintains strong ideological loyalty to the principle of Velayat-e Faqih (Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist) and is considered one of the closest and most disciplined forces operating under the command of the IRGC Quds Force.
7. PMF (Popular Mobilization Forces)
- Formation: Established in 2014 in response to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani's fatwa calling for collective jihad (jihad al-kifa'i) to counter the rapid territorial advances of ISIS in Iraq.
- Current Leadership: The organization's official chairman is Falih al-Fayyadh, while its military chief of staff is Abu Fadak al-Muhammadawi.
- Headquarters: Baghdad, Iraq.
- Connection to the Islamic Republic of Iran: It is an official organization funded by the Iraqi government. However, its core leadership structures and most powerful military brigades are heavily influenced by and loyal to the Islamic Republic of Iran.
8. AAH (Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq)
- Formation: Established in 2006 by Qais al-Khazali following a split from Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army as a hardline Shiite militia organization.
- Current Leadership: Qais al-Khazali serves as the secretary-general and principal leader of the organization.
- Headquarters: Baghdad, Iraq, with extensive influence across southern and Shiite-majority provinces.
- Connection to the Islamic Republic of Iran: Since its establishment, the organization has received direct training and financial support from the IRGC Quds Force and Lebanese Hezbollah, operating in alignment with Iran's regional objectives.
9. TALIBAN (Taliban)
- Formation: Established in 1994 by Mullah Mohammad Omar, with the participation of religious school students in Kandahar, Afghanistan, with the objective of ending the country's civil wars.
- Current Leadership: Its supreme ideological and political leader is Mullah Nasrullah Hibatullah Akhundzada.
- Headquarters: Kabul and Kandahar, Afghanistan.
- Connection to the Islamic Republic of Iran: Relations between the two sides are complex and based on political pragmatism (realism). Iran maintains close diplomatic and security contacts with the Taliban, while significant border and religious disputes continue to exist.
10. ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria)
- Formation: Its origins trace back to the Tawhid and Jihad organization, established in 1999 under the leadership of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, which subsequently declared its self-proclaimed global caliphate in 2014.
- Current Leadership: The organization is currently led by Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi.
- Headquarters: It has no officially controlled territory and operates through clandestine cells in Iraq's Anbar desert, Syria's Badia region, and its Khorasan branch in Afghanistan.
- Connection to the Islamic Republic of Iran: ISIS is a bitter ideological, sectarian, and military enemy of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The two sides have engaged in extensive and deadly military confrontations in Syria, Iraq, and within Iranian territory.
11. Basij (Organization for Mobilization of the Oppressed)
- Formation: Established in December 1979 (Azar 1358) by order of Ayatollah Khomeini as a volunteer paramilitary force for national defense.
- Current Leadership: The organization is commanded by IRGC Brigadier General Gholamreza Soleimani.
- Headquarters: Tehran, Iran, with an extensive organizational network extending into cities and villages throughout the country.
- Connection to the Islamic Republic of Iran: The Basij is an official organization subordinate to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and functions as a principal instrument for mass mobilization and the government's domestic security control.
12. Liwa Fatemyun (Fatimiyoun Division)
- Formation: Established in 2012 by Alireza Tavassoli, also known as Abu Hamed, to organize and deploy Afghan Shiite refugees residing in Iran to participate in the Syrian civil war.
- Current Leadership: The identities of its senior commanders remain undisclosed for security reasons, and the entire organization operates under the supervision of IRGC Quds Force advisers.
- Headquarters: Operational bases in Damascus and Aleppo, Syria, and recruitment offices in Iran.
- Connection to the Islamic Republic of Iran: This division was established, financed, armed, and deployed by the IRGC Quds Force as an infantry force on regional front lines.
13. HHN (Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba)
- Formation: Established in 2013 by Sheikh Akram al-Kaabi following a split from Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, with the primary objective of concentrating on the deployment of fighters to the Syrian war.
- Current Leadership: Akram al-Kaabi serves as the organization's secretary-general.
- Headquarters: Baghdad, Iraq, with an extensive military presence in Damascus and Aleppo, Syria.
- Connection to the Islamic Republic of Iran: The organization maintains deeply institutional and direct relations with Seyyed Ali Khamenei and the IRGC Quds Force and is entirely dependent on Tehran for its weapons supplies.
14. LH (Lebanese Hezbollah)
- Formation: Established in 1982 following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon through the merger of several Shiite groups, with direct support and training provided by IRGC advisers in the Bekaa Valley.
- Current Leadership: Following recent developments and the deaths of senior leaders, Naim Qassem was appointed as the organization's new secretary-general.
- Headquarters: Beirut, Lebanon, particularly the southern suburbs (Dahiyeh) and southern Lebanon.
- Connection to the Islamic Republic of Iran: Hezbollah is the oldest, most heavily equipped, and most strategically important proxy and regional ally of the Islamic Republic of Iran within the broader Axis of Resistance network.
15. HMG | HAF (Hasm Movement | Liwa al-Thawra)
(Note: These two extremist militia organizations operate in Egypt, and U.S. Treasury Department records have identified them as terrorist organizations affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.)
- Formation: Established in 2015 and 2016 following the overthrow of Mohamed Morsi and the suppression of the Muslim Brotherhood as armed militant branches conducting sabotage operations against the government of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Egypt.
- Current Leadership: Their leadership operates through decentralized clandestine cells, without publicly identified principal leaders.
- Headquarters: Cairo and the Nile Delta provinces of Egypt, with some direction provided by exiled members elsewhere in the region.
- Connection to the Islamic Republic of Iran: These organizations have no direct structural or financial relationship with Tehran. They are Sunni organizations with Salafi-Muslim Brotherhood ideological characteristics, and Iran's policy toward them has been limited to shared opposition to governments allied with the United States in the region.
Summary and Comparative Status of the Organizations
Iran's Intelligence and Security Structures, Senior Officials, Classified Divisions, and Revolutionary Court Judges / 2026
1. Overall Structure, Deputy Departments, and Leadership Status of VAJA (Ministry of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic of Iran)
Following the killing of Esmail Khatib during developments in late 1404 (Iranian calendar), the administration of Masoud Pezeshkian has been operating the ministry under an acting interim director.
Department 43 (Overseas Assassination and Elimination Operations Department): In unofficial investigative disclosures and older opposition documents, including cases from the 1990s and extraterritorial assassinations, "Department 43" has been described as a special operations and assassination unit operating in parallel with certain elements of the IRGC Quds Force. The identity of the department's director remains completely confidential and classified.
Organizational Structure and Responsibilities
2. Organizational Structure and Command Status of SAS (IRGC Intelligence Organization)
Following the killing of Major General Mohammad Kazemi in 1404 (Iranian calendar), the organization was temporarily placed under the command of Major General Majid Khademi.
Following the killing of Majid Khademi in Farvardin 1405, the organization is currently operating under an interim leadership structure or a newly appointed commander whose identity has not been publicly announced.
Organizational Structure and Specialized Divisions
3. Structure of SAHFAJA (Army Intelligence Protection Organization) and FARAJA (Law Enforcement Command)
Within the law enforcement sector, Brigadier General Gholamreza Rezaeian, head of the FARAJA Intelligence Organization, was killed in Esfand 1404 (Iranian calendar).
However, internal counterintelligence protection within FARAJA is the responsibility of the "FARAJA Intelligence Protection Organization."
Organizational Structure and Command Responsibilities
4. Revolutionary Court Judicial Officials Associated with the Highest Numbers of Death Sentences
According to aggregated reports from international human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, and documentation collected by civil society activists, the highest volumes of death sentences in the history of the Islamic Revolutionary Courts of Iran are attributed to the following officials:
Islamic Revolutionary Prosecutors
- Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi: Former Revolutionary Prosecutor of Tehran; member of judicial panels in the late 1980s.
- Morteza Eshraghi: Revolutionary Prosecutor of Tehran during the trials conducted in the late 1980s.
- Mostafa Pourmohammadi: Representative of the Ministry of Intelligence (VAJA) in sensitive judicial proceedings in the late 1980s.
- Asadollah Lajevardi: Former Revolutionary Prosecutor of Tehran in the early 1980s; known for harsh treatment of detainees at Evin Prison.
Presidents and Presiding Judges of the Islamic Revolutionary Courts
- Hossein Ali Nayyeri: Former religious judge of the Revolutionary Courts and principal head of judicial panels during the 1980s.
- Sadegh Khalkhali: The first religious judge of the Revolutionary Courts following the 1979 Revolution; responsible for issuing widespread death sentences against officials of the former regime and political opponents.
- Abolghasem Salavati: Presiding judge of Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court; responsible for issuing the largest number of death sentences and lengthy prison terms during the protests of 2009, 2017, 2019, and 2022.
- Mohammad Moghiseh (Hakim): Former presiding judge of Branch 28 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court; associated with an extensive record of issuing death sentences against political activists, religious activists, and individuals from various ideological backgrounds.
Summary Table of Organizational Status and High-Level Command Channels (2026)
