MILITARY OF IRAN

'Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran'
Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistic
'Armed Forces Branches'
★ ' Air Force' ★ ' Army' ★ ' Navy' ★ 'IRGC'
'Military Ranks'
Air Force Ranks Insignia Army Ranks Insignia Navy Ranks Insignia IRGC Ranks Insignia
'Components'
Defense Industries Organization Iran Aviation Industries Organization
'Military History'
Military history of Iran
'Military Expenditures'
'Dollars:' $6.3 billion (2005) 'Percent of GDP:' 1.1% (2005)
'Military Manpower'
'Active troops:' 545,000 (8th) 'Total troops:' 12,285,000 (1st)

The 'Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran' () include the IRIA () , the IRGC () , and the Police Force^[1] ().
These forces total about 545,000 active personnel.^[2] Both fall under the commands of the Ministry's of Defence & Armed Forces Logistics.^[3]

★ The Islamic Republic of Iran Army consists of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, Islamic Republic of Iran Navy, Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force. 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 personnel; and the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force, 52,000 airmen.^[2]

★ The Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution, or Revolutionary Guards, has an estimated 125,000 personnel in five branches: Its own Navy, Air Force, and Ground Forces; the Quds Force (Special Forces), and the Basij (militia).^[2]
The Basij (or Baseej) is a paramilitary volunteer force controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards; it 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.^[6]
Iran's Armed Forces capabilities are kept largely secret. 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 Israel. ^[7] In 2006, Iran claimed that it spied on the American aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan for 25 minutes without being detected before returning safely to its base (5 minute video). ^[8]^[9].
Some western nations have alleged that Iran is developing nuclear weapons. ^[10] The United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency, in its February 2006 report on Iran's nuclear programme, said it had no evidence of this. ^[11] ^[12]
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). Abizaid said he did not count Israel Defense Forces, because it does not fall in his area of operations. ^[13]

Leadership

Budget

Combat history and operations

Chemical weapons

Defence industry

November 2006 missile test

References

Leadership

Budget

The United States delivered 79 F-14 Tomcat fighter jets to Iran before 1979.

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.^[14]

Combat history and operations

★ Dhofar Rebellion (1962-1975). 1500 Iranian troops supported the Sultan of Oman against an insurrection.

★ Siege of Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs (1971). Iranian Marines capture the 3 Islands from the UAE.

★ 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.

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. 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]
The U.S had been accused of supplying Iraq with chemical weapons, yet an international coalition reported no evidence of such U.S. manufactured weapons after a 2003 invasion of Iraq. This could however be attributed to Iraq disposing of its weapons of mass destruction after the conflict with Iran.

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 is today known 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]

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/IRBM 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.

References

1. http://www.police.ir/
2. IISS Military Balance 2006, Routledge for the IISS, London, 2006, p.187
3. http://www.mod.ir/
4. IISS Military Balance 2006, Routledge for the IISS, London, 2006, p.187
5. IISS Military Balance 2006, Routledge for the IISS, London, 2006, p.187
6. [1]
7. [2]
8. [3]
9. [4]
10. [5]
11. [6]
12. [7]
13. http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Iran_Favors_Asymmetric_Strategy_In_Joust_With_US_999.html
14. [8]
15. [9]
16. [10]
17. [11]
18. [12]
19. [13]
20. [14]
21. [15]
22. [16]
23. [17]
24. [18]

External links

★ The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force - IRIAF

★ Defence Industries Organization

★ Iran Electronics Industries

★ Iranian Aerospace Industries Organization

★ Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company

★ News on Iranian Military plus Iran Military Pictures and videos

This article provided by Wikipedia. To edit the contents of this article, click here for original source.

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