| Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran نیرو های مسلح جمهوری اسلامی ایران nirooha-ye mosallah e jomuri-ye eslami-ye Iran |
|
|---|---|
| Founded | 1923 (as modern military) |
| Current form | 1980 |
| Service branches | Islamic Republic of Iran Army |
| Headquarters | Tehran |
| Leadership | |
| Supreme Commander | Ayatollah Ali Khamenei |
| Commander-in-Chief of the Army Commander-in-Chief of the IRGC Chief of Staff |
General Ataollah Salehi General Mohammad Ali Jafari Major General Hassan Firuzabadi |
| Manpower | |
| Active personnel | 545,000 (ranked 8th) |
| Reserve personnel | 650,000 |
| Expenditures | |
| Budget | $9.174 billion (2008)[1] (24th by total expenditure) |
| Percent of GDP | 2.7% (2008)[1] |
| Industry | |
| Domestic suppliers | Defense Industries Organization Iran Aviation Industries Organization Aerospace Industries Organization Iran Electronics Industries Marine Industries Organization |
| Foreign suppliers | Russia[2] Belarus[3] North Korea China United States (as of Pahlavi's Era) |
| Related articles | |
| History | Military history of Iran Anglo-Soviet Invasion of Iran |
| Ranks | Air Force 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 with in-the-field military operational command.
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.[11] However, in reality Iran's military spending in 2010 were only $7.044bln, approximately 6 times less than Saudi Arabia [$42.917bln], and 2 times less than United Arab Emirates and Israel [and ~98 times less than the US]. Iran's military spending is a very modest 1.8% of GDP, compared to >11% for Saudi Arabia, 6.3% for Israel, and 4.7% for the US.
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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.
Britain and the Soviet Union 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, was 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 boarding party from HMS Cornwall (F99) was seized in the waters between Iran and Iraq, in the Persian Gulf.
Iran has launched no wars of choice in modern history, and its leadership adheres to a doctrine of "no first strike".[12] The country's military budget is the lowest per capita in the Persian Gulf region besides the UAE.[12]
Since 1979, there are no foreign military bases present in Iran. According to Article 146 of the Iranian Constitution, the establishment of any foreign military base in the country is forbidden, even for peaceful purposes.[13]
Iran's 2007 defense budget was estimated to be $7.31 billion by London's International Institute for Strategic Studies.[23] 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.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute the 2008 military expenditure was $9.174 billion, 2.7% of the GDP.[1]
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.[25] In 1973 the Iran Electronics Industries (IEI) was established.[26] The company was set up in a first attempt to organize the assembly and repair of foreign-delivered weapons.[27] 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, BM-21, and SAM-7 missiles in 1979.[27]
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.[28]
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.[29]
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.[25] Since 1992, it also has produced its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, radar systems, guided missiles, submarines, military vessels and fighter planes.[30][31]
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.[32] 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.[33]
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 2,000 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.[34] 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.
Iran ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1997. Iranian troops and civilians suffered tens of thousands of casualties from Iraqi chemical weapons provided by western countries 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.[35]
Iran ratified the Biological weapons Convention in 1973.[36] Iran has advanced biological and genetic engineering research programs supporting an industry that produces vaccines for both domestic use and export.[37]
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