Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics (Iran)

Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics

Insignia
Flag
Agency overview
Formed	22 August 1989
Type	Government ministry
Jurisdiction	Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Employees	Classified
Annual budget	$1.53 billion (2020–21)[1]
Minister responsible	Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh
Website	http://www.mod.ir/

The Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL; Persian: وزارت دفاع و پشتیبانی نیروهای مسلح, romanized: vezârat-e defa' va poštibâni-ye niruhâ-ye mosallah) is the defence ministry of Iran and part of the country's executive branch. It thus reports to the President of Iran, not to the Commander-in-Chief of the Iranian Armed Forces.

Unlike many countries, the ministry is not involved with in-the-field military operational command of the armed forces. Instead it is responsible for planning, logistics and funding of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran while the General Staff, a separate institution under command of the supreme leader of Iran, has control over the forces.^[2] The MODAFL is also the major player in defense industry of Iran, with multiple conglomerates and subordinates active in research and development, maintenance and manufacturing of military equipment. It annually exports military equipment manufactured in Iran to forces of countries such as Syria, Iraq, Venezuela and Sudan (the latter ceased in 2019), as well as non-state actors like Hezbollah.^[3]

The ministry is considered one of the three "sovereign" ministerial bodies of Iran due to nature of its work at home and abroad.^[4]

When Mohammad Mossadegh took over the ministry on 21 July 1952, he initiated a series of reforms in the ministry. He named general Ahmad Vossough as his deputy and renamed the ministry from 'War' to 'National Defense', cut the military budget by 15% and vowed to only purchase defensive military equipment.^[5] Two investigatory commissions were formed, one for examining previous promotions and the other for materiel procurement.^[5] Under Mossadegh, some 15,000 personnel were transferred from the army to the gendarmerie and 136 officers, including 15 general officers, were purged.^[5]

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had between 1982 and 1989 its own dedicated defence ministry, mirroring the existing ministry of defence which solely supplied the Islamic Republic of Iran Army during this period. Under President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in 1989, the two ministries were merged into one in order to cease parallel work and reduce interservice rivalry.

Iranian military industry, under the command of Ministry of Defence, is composed of the following main components:^[6]

In August 2018, the Iranian Ministry of Defense declared it had unloaded its shares in Wagon Pars and Iran Airtour.^[7] In November 2020, the head of the Research and Innovation Organisation of the defence ministry, the nuclear physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was assassinated in an ambush near Tehran.^[8]

No.	Portrait	Minister	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Defence branch	Cabinet
Minister of National Defence
1		Madani, AhmadCommodore Ahmad Madani (1929–2006)	22 February 1979	31 March 1979	37 days	Army (Navy)	Bazargan
2		Riahi, TaghiBrigadier General Taghi Riahi (1911–1989)	31 March 1979	18 September 1979	171 days	Army (Ground Force)	Bazargan
3		Chamran, MostafaMostafa Chamran (1932–1981)	30 September 1979	28 May 1980	241 days	IWH	Bazargan Council of the Islamic Revolution
4		Fakoori, JavadColonel Javad Fakoori (1936–1981)	10 September 1980	17 August 1981	341 days	Army (Air Force)	Rajai
5		Namjoo, MousaColonel Mousa Namjoo (1938–1981)	17 August 1981	29 September 1981  †	43 days	Army (Ground Force)	Bahonar Mahdavi Kani (interim)
6		Salimi, MohammadColonel Mohammad Salimi (1937–2016)	2 November 1981	14 August 1984	2 years, 286 days	Army (Ground Force)	Mir-Hossein Mousavi I
Minister of Defence
–		Mousavi, Mir-HosseinMir-Hossein Mousavi (born 1942) Acting	20 August 1984	21 October 1984	32 days	None	Mir-Hossein Mousavi I
–		Rahimi, Mohammad-RezaColonel Mohammad-Reza Rahimi Acting	21 October 1984	28 October 1985	1 year, 37 days	Army (Ground Force)	Mir-Hossein Mousavi I
7		Jalali, Mohammad HosseinColonel Mohammad Hossein Jalali (born 1936)	28 October 1985	29 August 1989	3 years, 305 days	Army (Ground Force)	Mir-Hossein Mousavi II
Minister of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics
8		Torkan, AkbarAkbar Torkan (1952–2021)	29 August 1989	16 August 1993	3 years, 352 days	None	Rafsanjani I
9		Forouzandeh, MohammadMohammad Forouzandeh (born 1960)	16 August 1993	20 August 1997	4 years, 4 days	IRGC	Rafsanjani II
10		Shamkhani, AliRear Admiral Ali Shamkhani (born 1955)	20 August 1997	24 August 2005	8 years, 4 days	IRGC (Navy) ↓ Army (Navy)	Khatami I Khatami II
11		Mohammad-Najjar, MostafaBrigadier General Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar (born 1956)	24 August 2005	3 September 2009	4 years, 10 days	IRGC (Ground Force)	Ahmadinejad I
12		Vahidi, AhmadBrigadier General Ahmad Vahidi (born 1958)	3 September 2009	15 August 2013	3 years, 346 days	IRGC (Quds Force)	Ahmadinejad II
13		Dehghan, HosseinBrigadier General Hossein Dehghan (born 1957)	15 August 2013	20 August 2017	4 years, 5 days	IRGC (Aerospace Force)	Rouhani I
14		Hatami, AmirBrigadier General Amir Hatami (born c. 1965/1966)	20 August 2017	25 August 2021	4 years, 5 days	Army (Ground Force)	Rouhani II
15		Brigadier General Mohammad-Reza Gharaei Ashtiani (born 1960)	25 August 2021	21 August 2024	3 years, 67 days	Army (Ground Force)	Raisi
16		Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh (born 1965)	21 August 2024	Incumbent	71 days	Army (Air Force)	Pezeshkian

• Islamic Republic of Iran Mine Action Center (2003)
• Military budget of Iran

• Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL)
• Anthony H. Cordesman, Iran's military forces in transition

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