Military of Iran
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| Military of Iran |
|
|---|---|
  Logo and flag of the Iranian Military |
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| Service branches | Air Force Army Navy Islamic Revolutionary Guards |
| Manpower | |
| Military age | 18 years of age for compulsory military service; 16 years of age for volunteers; soldiers as young as 9 were recruited extensively during the Iran-Iraq War |
| Conscription | 18 months |
| Available for military service |
18,319,545 males, age 15–49 (2005 est.), 17,541,037 females, age 15–49 (2005 est.) |
| Fit for military service |
15,665,725 males, age 15–49 (2005 est.), 15,005,597 females, age 15–49 (2005 est.) |
| Reaching military age annually |
862,056 males (2005 est.), 808,044 females (2005 est.) |
| Active personnel | 545,000 (ranked 8th) |
| Expenditures | |
| Budget | $6.2 billion (2005) |
| Percent of GDP | 3.3% |
| Related articles | |
| History | Military history of Iran |
| Ranks | Air Force |
The Islamic Republic of Iran has three regular armed forces, the Army, Navy, Air Force, and a fourth armed force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. These forces total about 545,000 personnel.[1] Both fall under the command of the Ministry of Defence & Armed Forces Logistics.[2]
- The regular armed forces have an estimated 420,000 personnel: the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, 350,000 personnel; the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy, 18,000 sailors and marines; and the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force, 52,000 airmen.[3]
- The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), or Revolutionary Guards, has an estimated 125,000 personnel in five branches: Qods Force (Special Forces), Basij (Paramilitary), IRGC Navy, IRGC Air Force, and the IRGC Ground Forces.[4]
The Basij (or Baseej) is a paramilitary volunteer force and part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps; which includes about 90,000 full-time, active-duty uniformed Basij members, up to 300,000 reservists, and a further 11 million men and women who could be mobilized.[5]
Iran's military capabilities are kept largely secret. In recent years, official announcements have highlighted the development of weapons such as Fajr-3 (MIRV) missile, Hoot, Kowsar, Fateh-110, Shahab-3, and a variety of unmanned aerial vehicles, at least one of which Israel claims has been used to spy on Israel. [6] In 2006, Iranian officials said, its UAVs spied on the American aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan for 25 minutes without being detected. [7][8]
Some western nations have alleged that Iran is developing nuclear weapons. [9] The United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency, in its February 2006 report on Iran's nuclear programme, said it had no evidence of this. [10] [11]
Contents |
[edit] Leadership
- Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
- President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
- Rear Admiral Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar (Minister of Defence)
- Major General Ataollah Salehi (General Commander of the Armed Forces)
- Major General Hasan Firuzabadi (Head of the Armed Forces General Command Headquarters)
- Brigadier General Abdolrahim Mousavi (Chief of the Joint Staff of the Armed Forces)
- Brigadier General Mohammad-Hossein Dadress (Army)
- Brigadier General Karim Ghavami (Air Force)
- Rear Admiral Sajjad Kouchaki Badlani (Navy)
- Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi (Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards)
- Brigadier General Mohammad Hejazi (Chief of the Joint Staff of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards)
- Brigadier General Mohammad-Reza Zahedi (Revolutionary Guards' Ground Forces)
- Brigadier General Hossein Salami (Revolutionary Guards' Air Force)
- Rear Admiral Morteza Saffari (Revolutionary Guards' Navy)
- Brigadier General Mohammad Hejazi (Commander-in-chief of the Mobilized Basij forces)
- Brigadier General Qassem Soleimani (Qods Force)
- Brigadier General Abdol-Ali Najafi (Secret unit)
[edit] Budget
Iran's 2005 defence budget was estimated to be $6.3 billion by London's International Institute for Strategic Studies. This was $91 per capita, a lower figure than other Persian Gulf nations, and lower as a percentage of gross national product than all other Gulf states except the United Arab Emirates.[12] The same institute contends that Israel spends 19 times more per capita on its military than Iran.[13] Still, Iran's military was called the Middle East's most powerful by the senior U.S. commander in the region.[14]
[edit] Combat history and operations
- Dhofar Rebellion (1962-1975). 1500 Iranian troops supported the Sultan of Oman against an insurrection.
- The Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988).
- Operation Praying Mantis (18 April 1988). The U.S. retaliation for the Iranian mining of the USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58).
- Operation Prime Chance (1987-1989). The U.S. operation to stop Iranian mine-laying vessels from blocking the international sea lanes through the Persian Gulf.
[edit] Chemical weapons
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 deployed by Iraq during the war conflict. 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. [15]
[edit] Defence industry
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. [16]
In 1973 the Iran Electronics Industries (IEI) was established. [17] The company was set up in a first attempt to organize the assembly and repair of foreign delivered weapons. [18] 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. [19]
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. [20]
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. [21] The Islamic Revolutionary Guards were put in charge of creating what we today know as the Iranian military industry. Under their command Iran's military industry was enormously expanded, and with the Ministry of Defence pouring investment into the missile industry, Iran soon accumulated a vast arsenal of missiles. [22]
Since 1992, it also has produced its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, guided missiles, submarines, and a fighter plane.[23]
[edit] November 2006 missile test
On November 2, 2006, Iran fired unarmed missiles to begin 10 days of military war games. 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 [24]. Iran is also believed to have started the development of an ICBM missile project, known as Ghadr-110 with a range of more than 3000 km; the program is paralleled with advancement of a satellite launcher named IRIS.
[edit] References
- ^ IISS Military Balance 2006, Routledge for the IISS, London, 2006, p.187
- ^ http://www.mod.ir/
- ^ IISS Military Balance 2006, Routledge for the IISS, London, 2006, p.187
- ^ IISS Military Balance 2006, Routledge for the IISS, London, 2006, p.187
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ [3]
- ^ [4]
- ^ [5]
- ^ [6]
- ^ [7]
- ^ [8]
- ^ [9]
- ^ http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Iran_Favors_Asymmetric_Strategy_In_Joust_With_US_999.html
- ^ [10]
- ^ [11]
- ^ [12]
- ^ [13]
- ^ [14]
- ^ [15]
- ^ [16]
- ^ [17]
- ^ [18]
- ^ [19]
[edit] See also
- The Islamic Republic of Iran
- Iran's missile forces
- Iran and weapons of mass destruction
- Current Equipment of the Iranian Army
- Current Iranian Navy vessels
- List of Iranian Air Force aircraft
- Islamic Revolutionary Guards: Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution
- Economy of Iran
- Military History of Iran
