OFFICIALS of the Iranian opposition in exile – the National Council of resistance of Iran (NCRI) – have told of training camps in the country that it says are run by the feared Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and the elite Quds force.

The disclosure was made by Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director of the NCRI's US operation, at a news conference in Washington.

He said that according to reports from inside the clerical regime, the IRGC had created a large directorate in the Quds to expand its training of foreign mercenaries. This, he said, was part of its overall strategy to step up its “meddling” in areas such as Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Bahrain, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

“The intelligence reports … indicate that this directorate has dozens of training camps across Iran,” said Jafarzadeh. “The camps have been divided based on the nationality of the trainees and the type of training. Both terrorist training and also military training for militias are provided, enabling them to better infiltrate and advance the regime’s regional objectives.

"Every month, hundreds of forces from Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan and Lebanon –countries where the regime is involved in frontline combat – receive military training and are subsequently dispatched to wage terrorism and war. Smaller groups are also trained in other countries in order to conduct terrorist acts and operations. Since 2012, the extent of training of foreign mercenaries in IRGC-controlled camps of the Quds Force has increased.”

Jafarzadeh said one of the main centres was the Imam Ali Garrison, north-west of the capital Tehran, which also housed the training directorate’s headquarters.

Two types of training are carried out here – basic and primary training, which is short-term, usually only about 45 days. However, Jafarzadeh added that a separate suite inside the camp was used for terrorist training, after which individuals were sent out to “various countries in the Persian Gulf area, Asia, Africa, and Latin America”.

“Daesh and the Tehran regime armed with its IRGC are two sides of the same coin, with the distinction that the IRGC has at its disposal a nation state with all its strategic resources,” said Jafarzadeh.

"It is high time that this regime be held accountable for its crimes against the people of Iran ... the IRGC must be designated as terrorist organisation for its crimes in Iran and abroad.”