A report on Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iran–Iraq War

Top-left to bottom-right: Iranian child soldier on the frontlines

Iranian soldier in a trench wearing a gas mask to guard against Iraqi chemical attacks

Port quarter view of the USS Stark listing to port after being mistakenly struck by an Iraqi warplane

Pro-Iraq MEK forces killed during Iran's Operation Mersad

Iraqi prisoners of war after the recapture of Khorramshahr by Iranian forces

ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft gun being used by the Iranian Army

Ali Khamenei with IRIN commanders (at the time) during inauguration of Jamaran frigate

Meeting of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Houari Boumédiène and Saddam Hussein (left to right) during the Algiers Agreement in 1975.

A formation flight of Iranian F-14 Tomcats, in 2008

IRGC tank in 2012 military parade in Tehran

Ruhollah Khomeini rose to power after the Iranian Revolution.

Iran has three Russian-built Kilo-class submarines patrolling the Persian Gulf.

Qiam (left) and Sejjil 2 (right) ballistic missiles in a 2012 exhibition

Location of Khuzestan Province in Iran which Iraq planned to annex

Fateh-110 is a solid-fuel, guided ballistic missile

One of the various types of fast attack craft used by the IRGC

Iranian President Abolhassan Banisadr, who was also commander-in-chief, on a Jeep-mounted 106mm recoilless anti-tank gun. Banisadr was impeached in June 1981.

The Shahed 129 drone is widely considered to be one of the most capable Iranian drone in service

The Shatt al-Arab on the Iran–Iraq border

Iranian F-14A Tomcats equipped with AIM-54A, AIM-7 and AIM-9 missiles.

Resistance of the outnumbered and outgunned Iranians in Khorramshahr slowed the Iraqis for a month.

Iranian president Abulhassan Banisadr on the battlefront

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and Massoud Rajavi, the leader of MEK and the National Resistance Council of Iran (NCRI) in 1988.

The surprise attack on H-3 airbase is considered to be one of the most sophisticated air operations of the war.

Iranian soldier holding an IV bag during the Iran–Iraq War

Iranian Northrop F-5 aircraft during Iran-Iraq war

Iraqi T-62 tank wreckage in Khuzestan Province, Iran

Iraqi soldiers surrendering after the Liberation of Khorramshahr

An admonitory declaration issued from the Iraqi government in order to warn Iranian troops in the Iran–Iraq War. The statement says: "Hey Iranians! No one has been downtrodden in the country where Ali ibn Abi Ṭālib, Husayn ibn Ali and Abbas ibn Ali are buried. Iraq has undoubtedly been an honorable country. All refugees are precious. Anyone who wants to live in exile can choose Iraq freely. We, the Sons of Iraq, have been ambushing foreign aggressors. The enemies who plan to assault Iraq will be disfavoured by God in this world and the hereafter. Be careful of attacking Iraq and Ali ibn Abi Ṭālib! If you surrender, you might be in peace."

95,000 Iranian child soldiers were made casualties during the Iran–Iraq War, mostly between the ages of 16 and 17, with a few younger.

Iraqi POW who was shot by Iranian troops after they conquered the Iraqi Majnoon oil field in October 1984

Iranian troops fire 152 mm D-20 howitzer

Battle of the Marshes Iran front 1983 rest after exchange of fire 152 mm D-20 H

Operation Earnest Will: Tanker convoy No. 12 under US Navy escort (21 October 1987)

A map indicating the attacks on civilian areas of Iran, Iraq, and Kuwait targeted during the "War of the Cities".

Iraqi commanders discussing strategy on the battlefront (1986)

Iranian President Ali Khamenei on the battlefront during the Iran–Iraq War

Operation Dawn 8 during which Iran captured the Faw Peninsula.

Iranian soldier killed during the Iran–Iraq War with Rouhollah Khomeini's photo on his uniform

The People's Mujahedin of Iran, supported by Saddam, started a ten-day operation after both the Iranian and Iraqi governments accepted UN Resolution 598. Casualty estimates range from 2,000 to 10,000.

Adnan Khairallah, Iraqi Defense Minister, meeting with Iraqi soldiers during the war

IRGC navy speedboats using swarm tactics

An Iranian soldier wearing a gas mask during the Iran–Iraq War.

The Iranian frigate IS Sahand burns after being hit by 20 U.S. air launched missiles and bombs, killing a third of the crew, April 1988

Iranian soldiers captured during Iraq's 1988 offensives

USS Vincennes in 1987 a year before it shot down Iran Air Flight 655

MEK Soldiers killed in Operation Mersad in 1988

Al-Shaheed Monument in Baghdad was erected to commemorate the fallen Iraqi soldiers during the war.

An Iranian soldier's funeral in Mashhad, 2013

An Iraqi Mil Mi-24 on display at the military museum of Sa'dabad Palace in Iran

President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H. W. Bush work in the Oval Office of the White House, 20 July 1984.

USS Stark (FFG-31) listing following two hits by Exocet missiles.

Victims of the 1987 chemical attack on Sardasht, West Azerbaijan, Iran

Damage to a mosque in Khoramshahr, Iran, the city that was invaded by Iraq in September 1980

The Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces are the combined military forces of Iran, comprising the Islamic Republic of Iran Army (Arteš), the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (Sepâh) and the Law Enforcement Force (Police).

- Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; or Sepâh for short) is a branch of the Iranian Armed Forces, founded after the Iranian Revolution on 22 April 1979 by order of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

- Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

Most of Iran's imported weapons consist of American systems purchased before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, with limited purchases from the Soviet Union in the 1990s following the Iran–Iraq War.

- Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

As fierce fighting broke out between the two sides, the Iranian military began to gain momentum against the Iraqis and regained virtually all of its lost territory by June 1982.

- Iran–Iraq War

Meanwhile, a new paramilitary organisation gained prominence in Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (often shortened to Revolutionary Guards, and known in Iran as the Sepah-e-Pasdaran).

- Iran–Iraq War

Among the dead was General Ahmad Kazemi, the IRGC ground forces commander, and Iran–Iraq War veteran.

- Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

2 related topics with Alpha

Iran

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Country in Western Asia.

Inscription of Ardeshir Babakan (r. 224–242) in Naqsh-e Rostam: "This is the figure of Mazdaworshiper, the lord Ardashir, Shahanshah of Iran..."

An Ashrafi Coin of Nader Shah (r. 1736–1747), reverse:"Coined on gold the word of kingdom in the world, Nader of Greater Iran and the world-conquerer king."

A cave painting in Doushe cave, Lorestan, from the 8th millennium BC

A bas-relief at Persepolis, depicting the united Medes and Persians

Tomb of Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenid Empire, in Pasargadae

The Achaemenid Empire (550 BC–330 BC) around the time of Darius the Great and Xerxes I

The Parthian Empire (247 BC–224 AD) in 94 BC at its greatest extent, during the reign of Mithridates II

Tomb of Hafez, a medieval Persian poet whose works are regarded as a pinnacle in Persian literature and have left a considerable mark on later Western writers, most notably Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Henry David Thoreau, and Emerson

Venetian portrait, kept at the Uffizi, of Ismail I, the founder of the Safavid Empire

A portrait of AbbasI, the powerful, pragmatic Safavid ruler who reinforced Iran's military, political, and economic power

Statue of Nader Shah, the first Afsharid ruler of Iran, at his Tomb

A map showing the 19th-century northwestern borders of Iran, comprising modern-day eastern Georgia, Dagestan, Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan, before being ceded to the neighboring Russian Empire by the Russo-Iranian wars

The first national Iranian Parliament was established in 1906 during the Persian Constitutional Revolution

Reza Shah, the first Pahlavi king of Iran, in military uniform

The Allied "Big Three" at the 1943 Tehran Conference.

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and the Imperial Family during the coronation ceremony of the Shah of Iran in 1967.

Ruhollah Khomeini's return to Iran on 1February 1979

An Iranian soldier wearing a gas mask on the front-line during the Iran–Iraq War

The Green Movement's Silent Demonstration during the 2009–10 Iranian election protests

The 2017–18 Iranian protests were initiated on 31 December 2017 and continued for months.

Mount Damavand, Iran's highest point, is located in Amol, Mazenderan.

Persian leopard, listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List.

Iran's syncretic political system combines elements of an Islamic theocracy with vetted democracy.

Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, meeting with his counterpart, China's paramount leader Xi Jinping on 23 January 2016. Iran and China are strategic allies.

Ali Khamenei voting in the 2017 presidential election

Iranian former President Hassan Rouhani meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Iran and Russia are strategic allies.

The Islamic Consultative Assembly, also known as the Iranian Parliament

Protest against U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel. Tehran, 11 December 2017.

Sophisticated indigenous long range missile system Bavar-373 paraded in Tehran.

Iran's provinces by their contribution to national GDP (2014)

A proportional representation of Iran exports, 2019

More than a million tourists visit Kish Island each year.

Iran holds 10% of the world's proven oil reserves and 15% of its gas. It is OPEC's second largest exporter and the world's 7th largest oil producer.

Literacy rate of Iran's population plus 15, 1975–2015, according to UNESCO Institute of Statistics

Sharif University of Technology is one of Iran's most prestigious higher education institutions.

The production line for AryoSeven at the Iranian biopharmaceutical company of AryoGen

Iran's provinces by population density (2013)

Iron Age gold cup from Marlik, kept at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art

Kamal-ol-Molk's Mirror Hall, often considered a starting point in Iranian modern art

Tomb of the 10th-century Persian poet Ferdowsi, author of Šāhnāme, the classical Persian composition of the Iranian national epics, in Tus

Zoroaster, the founder of Zoroastrianism, depicted on Raphael's The School of Athens

Karna, an ancient Iranian musical instrument from the 6th century BC, kept at the Persepolis Museum

The Roudaki Hall, constructed between 1957 and 1967 in Tehran

Reproduction of the 3rd-millennium BC goblet from southeastern Iran, possibly the world's oldest example of animation.

Abbas Kiarostami (1940–2016), an acclaimed Iranian film director

Behrouz Vossoughi, a well-known Iranian actor who has appeared in more than 90 films

Haft-Seen, a customary of Nowruz, the Iranian New Year

Chelow kabab (rice and kebab), one of Iran's national dishes

The Azadi Stadium in Tehran is West Asia's largest football stadium.

An Iranian tea tray served near Garden of Mausoleum of Omar Khayyam in Nishapur

On 22 September 1980, the Iraqi army invaded the western Iranian province of Khuzestan, initiating the Iran–Iraq War.

Three days after, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched a retaliatory attack on US forces in Iraq and by accident shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, killing 176 civilians and leading to nation-wide protests.

The Supreme Leader is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, controls the military intelligence and security operations, and has sole power to declare war or peace.

Ali Khamenei

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Twelver Shia Marja' and the second and current supreme leader of Iran, in office since 1989.

Khamenei in a protest during Iranian Revolution in Mashhad

Ali Khamenei in military uniform during Iran–Iraq War

Khamenei in the hospital after the assassination attempt

Ali Khamenei has shaken hands with his left hand since the unsuccessful assassination.

Khamenei as Tehran's Friday Prayer Imam in 1979

Khamenei reading Will of Ruhollah Khomeini in Assembly of Experts

Khamenei at the Great Conference of Basij members at Azadi Stadium, October 2018

International Holy Quran Competition's participants meeting with Khamenei, June 2013

Participants of 31st International Islamic Unity Conference meeting with Khamenei, December 2017

Khamenei and former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani

Khamenei with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Ali Larijani and Sadeq Larijani in 2011

Khamenei casting his vote in 2013 presidential election

Khamenei in meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, 23 November 2015

Khamenei meeting with his counterpart, China's paramount leader Xi Jinping, 23 January 2016

Khamenei with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, 11 February 2017

Sixth International Conference in Support of the Palestinian Intifada, Tehran, 2017

Pro-government Syrians with portraits of Assad, Ayatollah Khomeini and Khamenei, April 2018

Khamenei speaking to Iranian Air Force personnel, 6 February 2016

Khamenei meeting with Hajj authorities, 2018

Iranian women with portraits of Khamenei, 2014

Khamenei was one of Iran's leaders during the Iran–Iraq War in the 1980s, and developed close ties with the now powerful Revolutionary Guards which he controls, and whose commanders are elected and dismissed by him.

He is the head of state of Iran, the commander-in-chief of its armed forces, and can issue decrees and make the final decisions on the main policies of the government in many fields such as economy, the environment, foreign policy, and national planning in Iran.