Iran Military

Iran is a country located in the Middle East. With a population of over 82 million people, it is the eighteenth most populous country in the world. Iran is an Islamic Republic and its military consists of three branches: the Army, Navy and Air Force. The Armed Forces are responsible for defending the country’s borders and sovereignty, as well as providing security to its citizens. In terms of defense spending, Iran spends approximately $13 billion annually on its military, making it one of the highest defense spending nations in the Middle East. The country also participates in several NATO operations such as those in Afghanistan, as well as United Nations (UN) peacekeeping missions such as those in Lebanon and Syria. Iran is also a member of both the European Union (EU) and NATO, and has close ties with other EU members such as France and Germany. See naturegnosis to learn more about the country of Iran.

Defense

The defense was rebuilt after the 1979 revolution and the eight-year war on Iraq. During the 1991 Kuwait War, Iran was not a warlord because in August 1990, after the invasion of Kuwait, Iraq agreed in practice to Iran’s peace conditions. In June 2005, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected president, and he was re-elected in 2009. During his presidency, the issue of civilian and military nuclear weapons programs was renewed. This question can be linked to the 2008-09 trial of modern medium-range missiles with low-flying so-called cruise missiles. A new Iranian strategy may be in the pipeline. To see related acronyms about this country, please check ABBREVIATIONFINDER where you can see that IRN stands for Iran.

Iran Army

Iran’s defense includes 523,000 men in 2010, compared with 420,000 men in 2005, which is a significant reinforcement. The defense is based on general military duty with an initial service of about 24 months. The reserves amount to 350,000 people. The Revolutionary Guard, which is directly under the General Staff, comprises 125,000 men, of which 100,000 are in ground and 20,000 in naval and naval infantry. The guard is lightly armed, and the main task is internal control. The army, 350,000 men, is organized into 4 armored divisions, 2 mechanized divisions and 4 infantry divisions with a total of about 1,600 relatively modern tanks.

The Navy, 18,000 men, disposes of 3 submarines, 6 surface combat vessels, 20 landing vessels and 2 naval infantry brigades. The Air Force, 30,000 men, has 310 combat aircraft, including 135 fighter jets from Iraq. The equipment is of Russian/Soviet origin and modernized and increasingly from the West (USA, UK and France). Semi-military border and security associations amount to at least 40,000 men. An extensive semi-military force of about 1 million men, who are militarily trained and deployed, is organized in close collaboration with the Revolutionary Guard.

  • COUNTRYAAH: Do you know where is Iran on the world map? Come to see the location and all bordering countries of Iran.

Defense costs decreased in 2005-08 from 3.1% to 2.8% of GDP. Iran participates in a UN mission in Sudan (UNMIS).

In January 2005, Iran allows an IAEA inspection of a military base in Parchín, which the United States claims is part of its nuclear program. Tehran rejects the claim and maintains that the nuclear program alone has peaceful purposes.

As part of a campaign against foreign cultural influence, Parliament is taking the first steps to prevent advertising of imported products.

In April Parliament voted for liberalization of abortion legislation. A pregnancy can be interrupted within the first 4 months if there are physical or mental problems associated with the pregnancy. Both parents must authorize the abortion and 3 doctors must confirm that the fetus will be disabled. The law must be approved by the guardians’ counsel. Until the law change, abortion has only been allowed if the mother’s life was in danger.

In June 2005, Tehran’s mayor, 48-year-old and ultra-conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the presidential election over Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, who otherwise stood near Homeini during the first year of the Islamic revolution. Rafsanjani was tipped as the victor, was described as moderate, and was in line with the West. Ahmadinejad got 61.8% of the vote and, after the victory, called on the people to set aside the differences and “create a strong, advanced and exemplary Islamic nation”. He also stated that Iran had “ridiculed” the US with its “democratic elections”.

Ahmadinejad was immediately hated in the West, and that was the reason why Iran announced in August that it would resume its nuclear reprocessing program. The Isfahan plant that was closed and sealed by the IAEA was reopened and the same happened in December with the Natanz plant. Iran’s official rationale was the desire to be able to reprocess uranium for use in civilian nuclear plants. The claim from the West was that Iran wants to acquire nuclear weapons. The only nuclear powers in the Middle East today are the United States and its allies, Israel. Natanz began producing uranium in February 2006, and the IAEA therefore took steps to bring Iran to the UN Security Council.

However, in the spring of 2006, the United States had to abandon sanctions against Iran in the UN Security Council, after Russia and China in particular opposed sanctions. Instead, the superpower continued to work on plans for military attacks on Iran, and Israel has similar military attack plans. While Iran has not attacked its neighboring countries, Israel has attacked all of its neighboring countries and in 1983 bombed an Iraqi nuclear reactor outside Baghdad. The United States has also occupied Central Asia and has surrounded Iran with military bases. In the spring of 2006, the threats of war triggered new oil price increases on the world market. A war will halt Iran’s $ 5 million oil exports barrels daily and will lead to severe oil shortages. Iran has also threatened to block the Shat-al-Arab Strait, with a large part of the European oil supply passing through.

In June 2006, Israel launched a war against Lebanon. In particular, to wipe out the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia, through which it sent a message to Iran to cease its support for militant groups in the region and cease its nuclear program. However, Israel suffered defeat after 1½ months of war in which Israel killed 1,200 civilian Lebanese.

In July 2007, prominent Shiite religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Akbar Faiz Meshkini – the most prominent member of the committee to elect the country’s religious head and bastion of President Ahmadinejad, died. The death sparked political strife between the president’s conservative political and religious backing and currents further from Ahmadinejad.