Iran’s leadership and elite Revolutionary Guard forces have quietly shifted into a hardened war footing as tensions with the United States spike across the Middle East, dispersing command centers, placing missile units on elevated alert, and preparing to fight on even if communications are severed or key leaders are assassinated. Reports citing US and Israeli intelligence, as well as Iranian insiders, say Tehran has scattered elements of its top leadership to reduce vulnerability to strikes, while the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)-a parallel military force with around 190,000 active personnel and control over Iran’s key missile arsenal and extraterritorial units-has been tasked with ensuring that command-and-control, proxy operations and retaliation plans can continue under blackout conditions.