Unit 190 is a specialized division within

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), also known as the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, is a multi-service primary branch of the Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces, Iranian Armed Forces. It was officially established by Ruhollah Khom ...

(IRGC)

Quds Force The Quds Force () is one of five branches of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). It specializes in unconventional warfare and military intelligence operations. U.S. Army's Iraq War General Stanley McChrystal describes the Quds Fo ...

, primarily responsible for the clandestine transfer and smuggling of weapons to organizations, groups, and states allied with Iran. The unit operated under the leadership of Behnam Shahriyari, also known by the aliases Hamid Reza and Seyed Ali Akbar Mir Vakili. It is estimated to have approximately 20 members, who engage in sophisticated covert operations to ensure the uninterrupted flow of arms to Iran’s regional proxies and allies.

Key activities and methods

Weapons smuggling

Unit 190 has been instrumental in transferring tens of thousands of tons of weapons to various groups, including: *

Hezbollah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. * The

Assad regime Ba'athist Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic (SAR), was the Syrian state between 1963 and 2024 under the one-party rule of the Syrian regional branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. From 1971 until its collapse in 2024, it was rule ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

militant organizations in Gaza. *

Houthi The Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, is a Zaydi Shia Islamist political and military organization that emerged from Yemen in the 1990s. It is predominantly made up of Zaydi Shias, with their namesake leadership being drawn largely ...

rebels in

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

Covert operations

The unit employs multiple methods to disguise weapons shipments, including: * Concealing weapons as ordinary commercial goods. * Using shell companies and civilian infrastructure to cover up logistics. * Falsifying registration documents and employing third-party entities.

Transportation routes

Unit 190 operates a sophisticated logistics network that spans multiple regions. Key transportation routes include: * Iran to Syria: Utilizing both passenger and military flights over

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. * Iran to Lebanon: Transporting arms via passenger and cargo flights over

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. * Iran to

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

: Using civilian ships for weapons shipments destined for Gaza. * Overland routes: Employing trucks and trains through

into

Collaboration with other units

Unit 190 works in coordination with other specialized divisions within the Quds Force, including: *

Unit 340 Unit 340 is a specialized division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force (IRGC-QF) responsible for developing and enhancing rocket and missile capabilities for Iran's allies, primarily Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and Hezbollah. The ...

: Focused on weapons research, development, and the training of operatives. *

Division 8000 Division may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication *Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting of 10,000 to ...

: Involved in joint military operations and strategic coordination.

International response and sanctions

The activities of Unit 190 have been identified as a significant factor contributing to regional instability. As a result, international actors, including the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

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, have imposed sanctions targeting individuals and entities associated with the unit. These measures aim to disrupt its operations and limit its ability to support Iran's military and political allies. Despite these sanctions and restrictions, Unit 190 continues to adapt, employing increasingly sophisticated methods to circumvent international monitoring and enforcement efforts. The unit plays a pivotal role in Iran’s broader strategy of regional influence and power projection, leveraging covert arms transfers to strengthen proxy forces across the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

and beyond.

Legal and diplomatic implications

Unit 190's activities directly violate multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions, which prohibit Iran from exporting weapons. The continued operations of the unit have raised geopolitical concerns, particularly among nations that oppose Iran’s influence in regional conflicts.

2020 Beirut explosion

Shahriyari has been linked to the transfer of

ammonium nitrate Ammonium nitrate is a chemical compound with the formula . It is a white crystalline salt consisting of ions of ammonium and nitrate. It is highly soluble in water and hygroscopic as a solid, but does not form hydrates. It is predominantly us ...

that led to the Beirut Port explosion in August 2020. Reports indicate that since 2011, the Iranian shipping company Liner Transport Kish (LTK), managed by Shahriyari and Mojtaba Mousavi Tabar, delivered significant quantities of ammonium nitrate to Hezbollah. Between 2011 and 2014, multiple shipments were sent to Beirut, including a consignment transported aboard the MV ''Rhosus'' vessel in August 2013, carrying approximately 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate. This shipment was seized and stored in the port, where it remained until its detonation in 2020, causing widespread casualties and destruction.

2025

During the Iran-Israel War Behnam Shahriyari was killed in a Israeli airstrike in Qom Province on 21 June 2025. On 24 June, 2025, Haitham Abdullah Bakri, head of the "Al-Sadiq" and a financier associated with Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli drone strike in the

Nabatieh Nabatieh (, ', Syriac-Aramaic: ܐܠܢܒܛܝܥ), or Nabatîyé (), is a city of the Nabatieh Governorate, in southern Lebanon. History Nabateans The most accepted theory is related to the Nabateans (spelled النبطي), an ancient Arab ...

area, southern Lebanon.

References

{{Reflist Quds Force Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officers Military of Iran Paramilitary organisations based in Iran Iran–United States relations Iranian security organisations Axis of Resistance