Imperial Iranian 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 ...

's Second Bureau (; ''Rokn-e-Dovvom'') was an Iranian military

intelligence agency An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, Intelligence analysis, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, public safety, and foreign policy obj ...

during the

Pahlavi dynasty The Pahlavi dynasty () is an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian royal dynasty that was the Pahlavi Iran, last to rule Iran before the country's monarchy was abolished by the Iranian Revolution in 1979. It was founded in 1925 by Reza Shah, Reza S ...

from 1926 to 1979.

Establishment and structure

Second Bureau was one of the four main bureaus operating in the army alongside First Bureau, responsible for Human resources, Third Bureau, responsible for operations and Fourth Bureau responsible for logistics. It was active since reign of

Reza Shah Reza Shah Pahlavi born Reza Khan (15 March 1878 – 26 July 1944) was shah of Iran from 1925 to 1941 and founder of the roughly 53 years old Pahlavi dynasty. Originally a military officer, he became a politician, serving as minister of war an ...

and received information from

military attaché A military attaché or defence attaché (DA),Defence Attachés
''Geneva C ...

s in target countries. Modeled after the

Deuxième Bureau The ''Deuxième Bureau de l'État-major général'' ("Second Bureau of the General Staff") was France's external military intelligence agency from 1871 to 1940. It was dissolved together with the Third Republic upon the armistice with Germany. ...

, the French elite officers who were teaching at

War University AJA University of Command and Staff (; acronym: , DĀFOOS), formerly named War University () is the staff college of Islamic Republic of Iran Army (''Artesh''), located in Tehran. The academy is a subdivision of Joint Staff of Islamic Republic o ...

and Officers' School before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

were founders of Iran's military intelligence service. The service was later contributed by

British secret services The Government of the United Kingdom maintains several intelligence agencies that deal with secret intelligence. These agencies are responsible for collecting, analysing and exploiting foreign and domestic intelligence, providing military intell ...

. On 7 September 1955, the "Intelligence Bureau of Imperial Iranian Army Headquarters" () was established. During reign of

Mohammad Reza Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (26 October 1919 – 27 July 1980) was the last Shah of Iran, ruling from 1941 to 1979. He succeeded his father Reza Shah and ruled the Imperial State of Iran until he was overthrown by the Iranian Revolution, which ...

, the agency directly reported to him.

Role

Alongside acting as the

military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis List of intelligence gathering disciplines, approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist Commanding officer, commanders in decision making pr ...

apparatus of the army and conducting

counterintelligence Counterintelligence (counter-intelligence) or counterespionage (counter-espionage) is any activity aimed at protecting an agency's Intelligence agency, intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering informati ...

operations, it was responsible for

internal security Internal security is the act of keeping peace within the borders of a sovereign state or other Self-governance, self-governing territories, generally by upholding the national law and defending against internal security threats. This task and rol ...

and

surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing, or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as ...

work involving military personnel, as well as civilians. The unit's operations was parallel to those of

Shahrbani ''Shahrbani'' ( ; ), formerly called ''Nazmiyeh'' ( ; ), was a law enforcement force in Iran with police duties inside cities. Founded during the Qajar Iran, Qajar era, it was eventually merged in 1991 with the Iranian Gendarmerie and the Islam ...

and

Ministry of Interior An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, th ...

. Until

1953 Iranian coup d'état The 1953 Iranian coup d'état, known in Iran as the 28 Mordad coup d'état (), was the overthrow of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh on 19 August 1953. Led by the Iranian army and supported by the United States and the United Kingdom, the co ...

, it was considered Iran's sole intelligence agency. After Organization of Intelligence and National Security (SAVAK) was established, it had close ties to the military. Although some of army intelligence officers were transferred to SAVAK and some simultaneously served in both agencies; an

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 ...

emerged between the two and even became an open secret to people.

Directors

* Abdolreza Afkham Ebrahimi (1932–1934) * Mohsen Diba (1934–?) * Abbasgholi Esfandiari * Ali Raati (around 1934) * Hasan Arfa (1934–?) * Habibollah Deyhimi * Bijan Gilanshah (1947–?) *

Hassan Akhavi Hassan Akhavi (1908–17 April 1997) was an Iranian military officer who played an active role in the overthrown of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953. He briefly served as the minister of agriculture in the period 1957–1959 and retired ...

* Hussein Siasi *

Hassan Pakravan Hassan Pakravan (4 August 1911 – 11 April 1979) was a well-known diplomat and minister in the Pahlavi pre-revolutionary government of Iran. He is not only notable for his political involvement with the Mohammad Reza Pahlavi government and S ...

(1951–1953) * Mustafa Amjadi (1953–1954) *

Mohammad-Vali Gharani Mohammad-Vali Gharani () (1913–23 April 1979) was an Iranian military officer. He was born in Tehran in 1913. He graduated from the Officers' Academy and the War College. In 1950 he joined the Imperial Army and was promoted to the rank of colo ...

(1954–1957) * Haj Ali Kia (1957–?) * Azizullah Kamal * Azizullah Palizban *

Nasser Moghaddam Lieutenant General Nasser Moghaddam (; 24 June 1921 – 11 April 1979) was an Iranian military officer and intelligence chief who served as the fourth and final director of SAVAK from 6 June 1978 to 12 February 1979. He assumed the position afte ...

(April 1973–March 1978) * Naser Qoli Boroumand Jezi *

Pervez Amini Afshar Parviz Amini Afshar (Persian: پرویز امینی افشار; born 1921 – died 1979) was an Iranian Military Officer and the last Head of the Second Bureau. General Parviz Amini Afshar was a prominent Iranian military figure who served as ...

(1978–1979) Head of the Second Directorate of the Joint Staff of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army * Hedayatollah Hatami (1979–1980) * Mohammad Mehdi Katibeh (1981–1987) * Colonel Shahvardian *

Mohammad-Hassan Nami Mohammad-Hassan Nami () is an Iranian military officer who formerly served as the Head of Crisis Management Organization of the Iran country from 2022 to 2024. He briefly held office as the minister of communication and information technology un ...

Deputy Head of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army *

Amir Hatami Amir Hatami (born 1966) is an Iranian military officer who is currently serving as the commander-in-chief of the Iranian Army. Having the rank of major general, Hatami was made commander-in-chief following the permuting of Abdolrahim Mousavi to ...

(1998–2005) * Abbas Ali Mansouri Arani * Seyyed Hamidreza Tabatabaei * Abbas Jafarinia

References

Imperial Iranian Armed Forces Defunct Iranian intelligence agencies Iranian security organisations Military intelligence agencies {{iran-mil-stub

Establishment and structure

Role

Directors

See also

References