Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Founded	1923 (as modern military)
Current form	1980
Service branches	Ground Forces Navy Air Force Iranian Air Defense Force IRGC Ground Forces Navy Air Force Quds Force Basij Police Force
Headquarters	Tehran
Leadership
Supreme Commander	Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Commander-in-Chief of the Army Commander-in-Chief of the IRGC	General Ataollah Salehi General Mohammad Ali Jafari
Manpower
Active personnel	545,000 (ranked 8th)
Reserve personnel	350,000
Expenditures
Budget	$18 billion (2010)[1]
Percent of GDP	2.2% (2010)
Industry
Domestic suppliers	Defense Industries Organization Iran Aviation Industries Organization Iran Electronics Industries Ghods Industry
Foreign suppliers	Russia[2]  Belarus[3]  North Korea  China Former suppliers:  United States  Israel  United Kingdom
Related articles
History	Military history of Iran Anglo-Soviet Invasion of Iran Dhofar Rebellion Seizure of Abu Musa Iran–Iraq War Kurdish Civil War Herat Uprising
Ranks	Air Force Ranks Insignia Army Ranks Insignia Navy Ranks Insignia IRGC Ranks Insignia

The Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Persian: نيروهای مسلح جمهوری اسلامی ايران) include the IRIA (Persian: ارتش جمهوری اسلامی ایران) and the IRGC (Persian: سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی) and the Police Force ^[4] (Persian: نيروی انتظامی جمهوری اسلامی ایران).

These forces total about 545,000 active personnel (not including the Police Force and the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution).^[5] All branches of armed forces fall under the command of General Headquarters of Armed Forces (ستاد کل نیروهای مسلح). The Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics is responsible for planning logistics and funding of the armed forces and is not involved in in-the-field military operational command.

• The Iranian Military consists of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, Islamic Republic of Iran Navy, Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force, and the Iranian Air Defense Force. The regular armed forces have an estimated 545,000 personnel: the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, 465,000 personnel; the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy, 28,000 personnel; and the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force, 52,000 airmen.^[5] Iranian Air Defense Force is a branch split off from the IRIAF.^[6]

• The Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution, or Revolutionary Guards, has an estimated 120,000 personnel in five branches: Its own Navy, Air Force, and Ground Forces; and the Quds Force (Special Forces).^[5]

• The Basij is a paramilitary volunteer force controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards. Its membership is a matter of controversy. Iranian sources claim a membership of 12.6 million, including women, of which perhaps 3 million are combat capable. There are a claimed 2,500 battalions of which some are full-time personnel.^[7] Globalsecurity.org quotes a 2005 study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimating 90,000 active-duty full-time uniformed members, 300,000 reservists, and a total of 11 million men that can be mobilized if need be.^[8]

Iran's military was called the Middle East's most powerful by General John Abizaid chief of United States Central Command (U.S. forces' commander in the region). However General Abizaid said he did not include the Israel Defense Forces as they did not fall into his area of operations.^[9]

Modern history

When the Pahlavi dynasty took power in 1925, following years of war with Russia, the standing Persian army was almost non-existent. The new king Reza Shah Pahlavi, was quick to develop a new military. In part, this involved sending hundreds of officers to European and American military academies. It also involved having foreigners re-train the existing army within Iran. In this period the Iranian Air Force was established and the foundation for a new Navy was laid.

The British and Russians invaded Iran in 1941. Following World War II, 1500 Iranian troops supported the Sultan of Oman against the Dhofar Rebellion from 1962-1975. In 1971, Iranian forces besieged Abu Musa and the Tunb islands. Before the Islamic revolution of 1979, Iran contributed to United Nations peacekeeping operations. Iran joined ONUC in the Congo in the 1960s, and ten years later, Iranian troops joined UNDOF on the Golan Heights.

Several years later Revolutionary Iran was taken by surprise by the Iraqi invasion that began the Iran–Iraq War of 1980-1988. During this conflict, there were several confrontations with the United States. From 1987, the United States Central Command sought to stop Iranian mine-laying vessels from blocking the international sea lanes through the Persian Gulf in Operation Prime Chance. The operation lasted until 1989. On April 18, 1988, the U.S. retaliated for the Iranian mining of the USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58) in Operation Praying Mantis.

A former military-associated police force, the Iranian Gendarmerie, disbanded in 1990.

In 1991, the Iranian armed forces received a number of fleeing Iraqi aircraft which were incorporated into the Air Force. From 2003, there have been repeated U.S. and British allegations that Iranian forces have been covertly involved in the Iraq War. In 2007, Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces also took prisoner Royal Navy personnel when a boat's party from HMS Cornwall was seized in Iran waters.

Iran has launched no wars of choice in modern history, and its leadership adheres to a doctrine of "no first strike."^[10] The country's military budget is the lowest per capita in the Persian Gulf region besides the UAE.^[10]

Commanders

The Iranian Air Force is equipped with a fleet of F-4 and F-14 aircraft provided by the United States before the Iranian Revolution. Iran also produces its own fighter jets, such as HESA Saeqeh.

Iran has 29 Tor-M1 mobile air defense systems.

Iran has 3 Russian-built Kilo class submarines patrolling the Persian Gulf. Iran is also producing its own submarines.^[11]

• Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (Supreme Leader and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, in Persian: فرمانده کل قوا)

• General Ahmad Vahidi (Minister of Defense)^[12]
• General Hassan Firouzabadi (Head of the Armed Forces General Command Headquarters, in Persian: رئیس ستاد کل نیروهای مسلح)
• Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi (Senior Advisor to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution)^[13]
• General Mohammad Hejazi (Deputy Chief of the Armed Forces)^[14]

• Islamic Republic of Iran Army (Artesh)
  • General Ataollah Salehi (Commander-in-Chief of the Army, in Persian: فرمانده کل ارتش)
  • General Abdolrahim Mousavi (Chief of the Joint Staff of the Army)
  • General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan (Commander of the Ground Force)
  • General Hassan Shah-Safi (Commander of the Air Force)^[15]
  • Major General Ahmad Mighani (Commander of Air Defense)^[16]
  • Admiral Habibollah Sayyari (Commander of the Navy)
• IRGC
  • Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari (Commander-in-Chief of the IRGC, in Persian: فرمانده کل سپاه پاسداران)
  • Brigadier General Hossein Salami (Chief of the Joint Staff of the IRGC)^[14]
  • Brigadier General Mohammad-Reza Zahedi (Commander of IRGC Ground Force)^[14]
  • Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh (Commander of IRGC Air Force)^[14]
  • Rear Admiral Morteza Saffari (Commander of IRGC Navy)^[17]
  • Brigadier General Qassem Soleimani (Commander of Quds Force)^[18]
  • Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naghdi (Commander of Basij forces)^[14]

• Iranian Police
  • Brigadier General Esmaeil Ahmadi-Moghaddam (Commander-in-Chief of the Police, in Persian: فرمانده کل نیروی انتظامی)

Budget

Military expenditures (% GDP)

Iran's 2007 defense budget was estimated to be $7.31 billion by London's International Institute for Strategic Studies^[19]. This was $102 per capita, a lower figure than other Persian Gulf nations and lower as a percentage of gross national product than all other Persian Gulf states (2.6% of GDP in 2007). This makes Iran's ranking the 25th largest defense expenditure globally.

In 2010 the Iranian government put the security and defence budget at $18 billion.^[20]

Defense industry

Iranian made Zulfiqar tank

Under the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Iran's military industry was limited to assembly of foreign weapons. In the assembly lines that were put up by American firms, such as Bell, Litton and Northrop, Iranian workers put together a variety of helicopters, aircraft, guided missiles, electronic components and tanks.^[21] In 1973 the Iran Electronics Industries (IEI) was established.^[22] The company was set up in a first attempt to organize the assembly and repair of foreign-delivered weapons.^[23] The Iranian Defense Industries Organization was the first to succeed in taking a step into what could be called a military industry by reverse engineering Soviet RPG-7, BM21, and SAM-7 missiles in 1979.^[23]

Iranian made jet fighter, HESA Saeqeh

Nevertheless, most of Iran's weapons before the Islamic revolution were imported from the United States and Europe. Between 1971 and 1975, the Shah went on a buying spree, ordering $8 billion in weapons from the United States alone. This alarmed the United States Congress, which strengthened a 1968 law on arms exports in 1976 and renamed it the Arms Export Control Act. Still, the United States continued to sell large amounts of weapons to Iran until the 1979 Islamic Revolution.^[24]

After the Islamic revolution, Iran found itself severely isolated and lacking technological expertise. Because of economic sanctions and a weapons embargo put on Iran by the United States, Iran was forced to rely on its domestic arms industry for weapons and spare parts since there were very few countries willing to do business with Iran.^[25]

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards were put in charge of creating what is today known as the Iranian military industry. Under their command Iran's military industry was enormously expanded, and with the Ministry of Defense pouring investment into the missile industry, Iran soon accumulated a vast arsenal of missiles.^[21] Since 1992, it also has produced its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, radar systems, guided missiles, submarines, military vessels and fighter planes.^[26][27]

In recent years, official announcements have highlighted the development of weapons such as the Fajr-3 (MIRV), Hoot, Kowsar, Fateh-110, Shahab-3 missile systems and a variety of unmanned aerial vehicles, at least one of which Israel claims has been used to spy on its territory.^[28] In 2006, an Iranian UAV acquired and allegedly tracked the American aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan for 25 minutes without being detected before returning safely to its base.^[29]

Ballistic program

Two-staged surface-to-surface Sajjil missile (SSM) produced by Iran

On November 2, 2006, Iran fired unarmed missiles to begin 10 days of military simulations. Iranian state television reported "dozens of missiles were fired including Shahab-2 and Shahab-3 missiles. The missiles had ranges from 300 km to up to 1300 km. Iranian experts have made some changes to Shahab-3 missiles installing cluster warheads in them with the capacity to carry 1,400 bombs." These launches come after some United States-led military exercises in the Persian Gulf on October 30, 2006, meant to train for blocking the transport of weapons of mass destruction ^[30]. Iran is also believed to have started the development of an ICBM/IRBM missile project, known as Ghadr-110 with a range of 3000 km; the program is paralleled with advancement of a satellite launcher named IRIS.

Weapons of mass destruction

Although Iran is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,^[10] Israel has alleged that Iran is developing nuclear weapons.^[31] The United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency, in its February 2006 report on Iran's nuclear program (Israel itself accused had developing nuclear weapon since 1980s), said it had no evidence of this. Recently, the United States of America released an intelligence report that the Islamic Republic of Iran is not developing a nuclear detonation device. Iran is currently attempting to create the radioactive fuel for energy purposes that could potentially be used in a nuclear weapon;^[32][33] however, as long as Iran's centrifuge plants are being actively inspected, they cannot be used to make a bomb.

Iran ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1997. Iranian troops and civilians suffered tens of thousands of casualties from Iraqi chemical weapons during the 1980-88 Iran–Iraq War. As a result, Iran has publicly stood against the use of chemical weapons, making numerous vitriolic comments against Iraq's use of such weapons in international forums.

Even today, more than eighteen years after the end of the Iran–Iraq War, about 30,000 Iranians are still suffering and dying from the effects of chemical weapons employed by Iraq during the war. The need to manage the treatment of such a large number of casualties has placed Iran’s medical specialists in the forefront of the development of effective treatment regimes for chemical weapons victims, and particularly for those suffering from exposure to mustard gas.^[34]

Iran ratified the Biological weapons Convention in 1973.^[35] Iran has advanced biological and genetic engineering research programs supporting an industry that produces world-class vaccines for both domestic use and export.^[36]

See also

• List of military equipment manufactured in Iran
• Equipment of the Iranian Army
• Current Iranian Navy vessels
• List of Iranian Air Force aircraft

Notes

Further reading

• PDF(French) Alain Rodier, The Iranian Menace, French Centre for Research on Intelligence, January 2007 - Order of Battle, stratégy, asymmetric warfare, intelligence services, state terrorism. Includes detailed order of battle for both regular army and Revolutionary Guard
• Anthony H. Cordesman, Iran's Military Forces in Transition: Conventional Threats and Weapons of Mass Destruction, Centre for Strategic and International Studies, ISBN 0-275-96529-5
• 'Iranian exercise reveals flaws in air defences,' Jane's Defence Weekly, 9 December 2009

External links

• Globalsecurity.org, Iranian armed forces
• Air University, Bibliography on Iran's military strategy
• Center for Strategic and International Studies, The Gulf: Military Forces in an Era of Asymmetric War: Iran, June 28, 2006

Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army  · Navy  · Air Force  · Islamic Revolutionary Guards