The Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL; ) is the defence ministry of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and part of the country's

executive branch The executive branch is the part of government which executes or enforces the law. Function The scope of executive power varies greatly depending on the political context in which it emerges, and it can change over time in a given country. In ...

. It thus reports to the

President of Iran The president of the Islamic Republic of Iran () is the head of government of the Iran, Islamic Republic of Iran and the second highest-ranking official, after the Supreme Leader of Iran, supreme leader. The 1980 Iranian presidential election, fi ...

, 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 The Iranian Armed Forces, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces, are the combined military forces of Iran, comprising the Islamic Republic of Iran Army (''Artesh''), the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (''Sepah'') and the Polic ...

while the

General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran () is the most senior military body in Iran, to implement policy, monitor and coordinate activities within the Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces, Armed Forces. Iran's two exist ...

, a separate institution under command of the

supreme leader of Iran The supreme leader of Iran, also referred to as the supreme leader of the Islamic Revolution, but officially called the supreme leadership authority, is the head of state and the highest political and religious authority of Iran (above the Presi ...

, has control over the forces. The MODAFL is also the major player in the defence industry of Iran, with multiple conglomerates and subordinates active in

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in some countries as OKB, experiment and design, is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products. R&D constitutes the first stage ...

maintenance The technical meaning of maintenance involves functional checks, servicing, repairing or replacing of necessary devices, equipment, machinery, building infrastructure and supporting utilities in industrial, business, and residential installa ...

and manufacturing of military equipment. It annually exports military equipment manufactured in Iran to forces of countries such as

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

, and

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

(the latter ceased in 2019), as well as non-state actors like

Hezbollah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...

in Lebanon. The ministry is considered one of the three "sovereign" ministerial bodies of Iran due to nature of its work at home and abroad.

History

1952–53: Reforms under Mossadegh

When

Mohammad Mossadegh Mohammad Mosaddegh (, ; 16 June 1882 – 5 March 1967) was an Iranian politician, author, and lawyer who served as the 30th Prime Minister of Iran from 1951 to 1953, elected by the 16th Majlis. He was a member of the Iranian parliament from ...

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 Defence', cut the

military budget A military budget (or military expenditure), also known as a defense budget, is the amount of financial resources dedicated by a state to raising and maintaining an armed forces or other methods essential for defense purposes. Financing milita ...

by 15%, and vowed to only purchase defensive military equipment. Two investigatory commissions were formed, one for examining previous promotions and the other for materiel procurement. Under Mossadegh, some 15,000 personnel were transferred from the army to the

gendarmerie A gendarmerie () is a paramilitary or military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (). In France and so ...

and 136 officers, including 15 general officers, were purged.

1970s procurement

1982–89: Two ministries

The

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), also known as the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, is a multi-service primary branch of the Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces, Iranian Armed Forces. It was officially established by Ruhollah Khom ...

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 The Islamic Republic of Iran Army (), acronymed AJA (), commonly simplified as the Iranian Army, is the conventional military of Iran and part of the Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces. It is tasked to protect the territorial integrity of th ...

during this period. Under President

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Akbar Hashemi Bahramani Rafsanjani (25 August 19348 January 2017) was an Iranian cleric, politician and writer who served as the fourth president of Iran from 1989 to 1997. One of the founding fathers of the Government of Iran, Islamic Republic, ...

in 1989, the two ministries were merged into one in order to cease parallel work and reduce

interservice rivalry Interservice rivalry is rivalry between different Military branch, branches of a country's Military, armed forces. This may include competition between army, land, Marines, marine, navy, naval, Coast guard, coastal, air force, air, or space for ...

Subordinates

Iranian military industry, under the command of the Ministry of Defence, is composed of the following main components: In August 2018, the Iranian Ministry of Defence declared it had offloaded its shares in Wagon Pars and Iran Airtour. 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.Top Iranian nuclear scientist assassinated near Tehran
''Aljazeera.com'', 27 November 2020

Ministers of Defence since 1979

, - ! colspan="8" align="center" , Minister of National Defence , - ! colspan="8" align="center" , Minister of Defence , - ! colspan="8" align="center" , Minister of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics

Timeline

References

Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL)

Anthony H. Cordesman, Iran's military forces in transition

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ministry of Defence And Armed Forces Logistics 1989 establishments in Iran Defence

Iran, Defence Military of Iran Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics of the Islamic Republic of Iran