List of senior officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards
The following individuals have been identified as senior officers (currently or in the past) of Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution, an agency of the government of Iran.
Commanders
These people commanded the organization at one point in their careers:
(in chronological order)
Other senior officials
These people have been identified as senior members of the organization, either at present or at some point in the past:
(in alphabetical order)
- Alireza Afshar, a former IRGC officer, appointed by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as deputy interior minister for political affairs and head of the ministry's election headquarters.[3]
- Vice Admiral Ali Akbar Ahmadian (Chief of IRGC Joint Staff)[4]
- Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of Iran, "fought for the Revolutionary Guards during the 1980-1988 war with Iraq. After taking office in 2005 he promoted five former Guards into cabinet posts."[1]
- Ahmad Reza Asghari, diplomat and former third secretary of the Iranian embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, also a delegate to a 2002 U.N. conference in Geneva, where he was listed as the Iranian foreign ministry's first secretary in the department for international economic affairs (also known as "Moshen Randjbaran", and not to be confused with Ali Reza Asghari[5]
- Ali Reza Asghari, a former IRGC commander who either defected or was kidnapped by a foreign intelligence service from Turkey in 2006, not to be confused with Ahmad Reza Asghari.[5]
- Esmail Daghayeghi, founder of the Badr Corps, originally made up of Iraqi exiles in Iran; a member of the IRGC[6]
- Minojahar Frouzanda, general, the current head of intelligence for the IRGC.[7]
- Mohammad Hejazi, brigadier general, Commander-in-chief of the Mobilized Basij forces[8][4]
- Abdol-Ali Najafi, brigadier general, Secret unit[9]
- Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, a former IRGC guardsman and, as of 2007, mayor of Tehran.[3]
- Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, former president of Iran[5]
- Morteza Rezaie, brigadier general, (Deputy Commander of IRGC)[4]
- Morteza Saffari, rear admiral, Revolutionary Guards' Navy[10][4]
- Hossein Salami, brigadier general, Revolutionary Guards' Air Force[11]
- Mohsen Sazegara, IRGC founding member, exiled analyst[3]
- Qassem Soleimani, brigadier general, Quds Force[12][4]
- Ahmad Vahidi, Iran's deputy defense minister, founder of the IRGC's "Lebanon Corps" in the 1980s, according to Iran analyst Alireza Jafarzadeh.[5]
- Ali Akbar Velayati, former Iranian Foreign Minister[5]
- Mohammad-Reza Zahedi, brigadier general, Revolutionary Guards' Ground Forces[11][4]
- Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr, former IRGC officer; as of 2007 a deputy interior minister and brother-in-law of IRGC commander Mohammad Ali Jafari.[3][4]
Notes
- ^ a b [1] "Iran Replaces Revolutionary Guards' Head" by Forbes staff, article in Forbes magazine, September 1, 2007
- ^ "Iran changes Revolutionary Guards commander". Reuters online (Reuters). 2007-09-01. http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSBLA16539820070901?sp=true. Retrieved 2007-09-02.
- ^ a b c d [2] Sepehri, Vahid, "Iran: New Commander Takes Over Revolutionary Guards" article at the Web site of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, accessed October 17, 2007
- ^ a b c d e f g "UN Security Council Resolution 1747, Iran". Council on Foreign Relations. 2007-03-24. http://www.cfr.org/publication/12987/. Retrieved 2009-07-24.
- ^ a b c d e Stephens, Bret, "Global View" columnist on the editorial pages of The Wall Street Journal, article titled, "Iran's al Qaeda", October 16, 2007; Page A20; ("All were, or are, senior officers in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.")
- ^ [3]"Iran: Expert Discusses Iran's Quds Force And U.S. Charges Concerning Iraq", article at the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Web site, dated February 16, 2007, accessed October 17, 2007
- ^ "The botched US raid that led to the hostage crisis." The Independent. April 2, 2007. Retrieved April 2, 2007.
- ^ [4] Global Security Web site, Niruyeh Moghavemat Basij Mobilisation Resistance Force
- ^ Iran: New chief appointed for secretive military unit
- ^ Iran to hold large-scale naval war games
- ^ a b http://www.khamenei.ir/EN/Message/detail.jsp?id=20060121A
- ^ Iran Revolutionary Guards expect key changes in high command