By Pishtaz | 2026-04-20

Amid the escalating regional conflict of 2026, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has executed what amounts to a "soft coup," sidelining civilian governance.

This shift reflects a calculated transformation toward a shadowy, military-dominated system that increasingly operates without transparency or meaningful oversight.

At the center of this takeover is the deliberate isolation of civilian leadership through a tightly controlled and heavily guarded security apparatus.

The IRGC has built a "security cordon" around new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei while systematically weakening President Masoud Pezeshkian and stripping him of authority.

According to Hindustan Times, Pezeshkian has been pushed into a "complete political deadlock," with key appointments repeatedly blocked by the Guards.

A closed circle of senior IRGC officers now exerts direct executive control while suppressing critical economic and social reporting.

This engineered opacity ensures zero accountability, preventing scrutiny while allowing decisions to be made without institutional resistance or public awareness.

Under Ahmad Vahidi, the IRGC has abandoned national defense priorities and shifted toward preserving regime survival through coercive and increasingly dangerous strategies.

Meanwhile, a report by Iran International reveals the use of over seventy civilian locations as operational military launch sites.

These locations include schools, hospitals and sports complexes embedded within densely populated urban areas across multiple regions of the country.

This strategy effectively turns ordinary civilians into human shields, forcing them to absorb risks associated with ongoing regional conflict.

Simultaneously, strict internal directives criminalize disclosure of these sites, imposing a climate of forced silence backed by severe threats, including execution.