GEOGRAPHY
Size: Land area of about 1,648,000 square kilometers; sovereignty
claimed over territorial waters up to 12 nautical miles.
Topography: Large Central Plateau surrounded on three sides by
rugged mountain ranges. Highest peak Mount Damavand,
approximately 5,600 meters; Caspian Sea about 27 meters below sea level.
TRANSPORTATION AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Roads: In 1984 a total of 136,381 kilometers of roads, of which
41 percent paved; of paved roads 16,551 kilometers of main roads and 34,838
kilometers of secondary roads.
Railroads: About 4,700 kilometers of railroads in 1987, including
newly electrified track in north between Tabriz and Jolfa for Soviet imports;
also rail connection with Turkey.
Pipelines: About 5,900 kilometers for crude oil; 3,900 kilometers
for refined products; 3,300 kilometers for natural gas in 1987; some possibly
inoperable as result of war damage.
Airports: In 1987 three international airports: Tehran, Abadan,
and Esfahan. Other airports being expanded and construction
for new ones planned.
Communications: In 1986 about 1.5 million telephones; 3,000 out
of 70,000 rural communities had telephones in 1987
compared with 300 in 1979. Further telephone expansion planned. Additional
microwave links opened between Tehran,
Ankara, and Karachi in early 1980s.
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Government: Islamic Republic under Constitution of 1979, with
Ayatollah Sayyid Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini as faqih (see
Glossary) for life and ultimate decision maker. Executive branch included
elected president, responsible for selecting prime
minister and cabinet, which must be approved by parliament, or Majlis
(see Glossary), elected legislative assembly. Judiciary
independent of both executive and Majlis. Council of Guardians, consisting
of six religious scholars appointed by faqih and six Muslim lawyers approved
by Majlis, ensured conformity of legislation with Islamic law.
Politics: Islamic Republican Party, created in 1979, dissolved
in 1987 because its factions made it unmanageable. Iran
Freedom Movement, a nonreligious political party, existed in 1987 but
had been intimidated into silence. Opposition political
parties existed in exile abroad: monarchists, democrats, Kurds, Islamic
groups, and Marxists. Regime stressed mass political
participation through religious institutions, such as mosques, rather
than political parties. Factories, schools, and offices had
Islamic associations similar to mosque voluntary associations. Fervent
religious zeal and support for the Revolution promoted by the Pasdaran
(Pasdaran- e Enghelab-e Islami, or Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or
Revolutionary Guards).
Administrative Divisions: Country divided into twenty-four provinces
(ostans), each under a governor general (ostandar);
provinces subdivided into counties (shahrestans), each under a governor
(farmandar). Most administrative officials appointive
and answerable to central Ministry of Interior. In addition, each county
had clerical imam jomeh chosen from among county
senior clergy. Imam jomeh served as representative of faqih.
Foreign Affairs: Policy of Islamic revolutionary government based
on export of Islamic revolution and liberation of Islamic and Third World
countries generally. Other major policy was independence from both West
and East, especially United States, the "Great Satan," and Soviet Union,
the "Lesser Satan." War with Iraq, which began in 1980, had been very costly
in men and matériel. War ended with Iran's acceptance of a cease- fire
in July 1988.
The Army
In 1979, the year of the shah's departure, the army experienced a 60-percent
desertion from its ranks. By 1986 the regular
army was estimated to have a strength of 305,000 troops (see table
8, Appendix). In the fervor of the Revolution and in the
light of numerous changes affecting conscripts and reservists, the
army underwent a structural reorganization. Under the shah,
the army had been deployed in 6 divisions and 4 specialized combat
regiments supported by more than 500 helicopters and 14 Hovercraft. An
85-percent readiness rate was usually credited to the force, although some
outside observers doubted this claim. Following the Revolution the army
was renamed the Islamic Iranian Ground Forces (IIGF) and in 1987 was organized
as follows: three mechanized divisions, each with three brigades, each
of which in turn was composed of three armored and six mechanized battalions;
seven infantry divisions; one airborne brigade; one Special Forces division
composed of four brigades; one Air Support Command; and some independent
armored brigades including infantry and a "coastal force." There was also
in reserve the Qods battalion, composed of ex-servicemen.
After the mid-1970s, military manpower was unevenly deployed. Nearly
80 percent of Iran's ground forces were deployed along the Iraqi border,
although official sources maintained that the military was capable of rapid
redeployment. Although air force transports were used extensively, redeployment
was slow after the start of the war. The Mashhad division headquarters,
in the eastern part of the country, has remained important because of Soviet
military operations in Afghanistan and resulting Afghan migration into
Iran .
In the past, Iran purchased army equipment from many countries, including
the United States, Britain, France, the Federal Republic of Germany (West
Germany), Italy, and the Soviet Union. By late 1987, Iran had diversified
its acquisitions, obtaining arms from a number of suppliers. Among them
were the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), China, Brazil,
and Israel. The diversity of the weapons purchased from these countries
greatly complicated training and supply procedures, but, faced with a war
of attrition and a continuous shortage of armaments, Iran was willing to
purchase from all available sources (see Foreign Influences in Weapons,
Training, and Support Systems , this ch.).
The IIGF operated almost 1,000 medium tanks in 1986 (see table 9, Appendix).
Although a large number were British-made
Chieftains and American-made M-60s, an undetermined number of Soviet-made
T-54 and T-55s, T-59s, T-62s, and T-72s were also part of the inventory,
all captured from the Iraqis or acquired from North Korea and China. There
was also a complement of fifty British-made Scorpion light tanks. Several
hundred Urutu and Cascavel armored fighting vehicles from Brazil joined
American-made M-113s and Soviet-made BTR-50-60s. An undetermined number
of Soviet-made Scud
surface-to-surface missiles were acquired from a third country, believed
to be Libya. And in November 1986, the United States revealed that it had
supplied the Iranian military with Hawk surface-to-air missiles and TOW
antitank missiles via Israel.
The army's aviation unit, whose main operational facilities were located
at Esfahan, was largely equipped with United States
aircraft, although some helicopters were of Italian manufacture. In
1986 army aviation operated some 65 light fixed-wing
aircraft, but its strength lay in its estimated 320 combat helicopters,
down from 720 in 1980.
Organization and Disposition
As faqih, Khomeini is constitutionally designated supreme commander
of the armed forces. He has delegated his powers to the president, who
may in turn delegate authority as required. Important decisions regarding
defense policies are made by the SDC, which combines senior members of
the armed services with senior members of the government.
Special Operations Forces
A primacy of state interest over revolutionary ideology was reflected
in the Khomeini regime's treatment of the military. Reports to the contrary
notwithstanding, the Khomeini regime never eliminated imperial Iran's regular
armed forces. Certainly, key military personnel identified with the deposed
shah were arrested, tried, and executed. But the purges were limited to
high-profile military and political figures and had a clear purpose:
to eliminate Pahlavi loyalists. As a means of countering the threat posed
by either the leftist guerrillas or the officers suspected of continued
loyalty to the shah, however, Khomeini created the Pasdaran, designated
as the guardians of the Revolution. The Constitution of the new republic
entrusts the defense of Iran's territorial integrity and political independence
to the military, while it gives the Pasdaran the responsibility of preserving
the Revolution itself.
Days after Khomeini's return to Tehran, the Bazargan interim administration
established the Pasdaran under a decree issued by Khomeini on May 5, 1979.
The Pasdaran was intended to protect the Revolution and to assist the ruling
clerics in the
day-to-day enforcement of the new government's Islamic codes and morality.
There were other, perhaps more important,
reasons for establishing the Pasdaran. The Revolution needed to rely
on a force of its own rather than borrowing the previous
regime's tainted units. As one of the first revolutionary institutions,
the Pasdaran helped legitimize the Revolution and gave the new regime an
armed basis of support. Moreover, the establishment of the Pasdaran served
notice to both the population and the regular armed forces that the Khomeini
regime was quickly developing its own enforcement body. Thus, the Pasdaran,
along with its political counterpart, Crusade for Reconstruction, brought
a new order to Iran. In time, the Pasdaran would rival the police and the
judiciary in terms of its functions. It would even challenge the performance
of the regular armed forces on the
battlefield.
Since 1979 the Pasdaran has undergone fundamental changes in mission
and function. Some of these changes reflected the
control of the IRP (until its abolition in 1987) over both the Pasdaran
and the Crusade for Reconstruction. Others reflected the IRP's exclusive
reliance on the Pasdaran to carry out certain sensitive missions. Still
others reflected personal ambitions of
Pasdaran leaders. The Pasdaran, with its own separate ministry, has
evolved into one of the most powerful organizations in Iran.
Not only did it function as an intelligence organization, both within
and outside the country, but it also exerted considerable
influence on government policies. In addition to its initial political
strength, in the course of several years the Pasdaran also
became a powerful military instrument for defending the Revolution
and Islamic Iran.
According to a classified report captured and released by the students
who occupied the United States embassy in Tehran,
initially the Pasdaran was planned as an organization that would be
directly subordinate to the ruling clerics of the Revolution.
According to this report, the Revolutionary Council in 1979 was composed
of 12 members and the Pasdaran of 30,000
members, divided as follows: Central Council of Saltanatabad, Tehran,
4,000 members; Provincial Command, 20,000; other
commands for border checkpoints and key areas, 3,000; and a training
center at Aliabad, 3,000. The commander of the
Pasdaran was Ayatollah Lahuti and its chiefs of staff were Hojjatoleslams
Hashemi-Rafsanjani and Gholam Ali Afrouz.
From this modest beginning, the Pasdaran became a formidable force.
According to the International Institute for Strategic
Studies, in 1986 the Pasdaran consisted of 350,000 personnel organized
in battalion-size units that operated either
independently or with units of the regular armed forces. In 1986 the
Pasdaran acquired small naval and air elements, and it has
claimed responsibility for hit-and-run raids on shipping in the Persian
Gulf. Darting out from bases on a chain of small islands in Swedish-built
speedboats equipped with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, the
Pasdaran has established a naval zone in northern Gulf waters. Hosain Alai,
the Pasdaran naval commander, announced on April 27, 1987, that the Pasdaran
was in "full control" of certain portions of Gulf waters and would continue
to operate from Farsi Island, between Iran and Saudi Arabia, as well as
from Sirri, Abu Musa, and Larak islands. At that time 200 Pasdaran pilots
reportedly were in training in East
Germany.
According to the Muslim Student Followers of the Iman's Line, the Pasdaran,
under the guidance of such clerics as Lahuti and
Hashemi-Rafsanjani, was also "to act as the eyes and ears of the Islamic
Revolution" and "as a special task force of the Imam
Khomeini to crush any counterrevolutionary activities within
the government or any political usurper against [the] Islamic Government."
Over the years the IRP's leadership used the Pasdaran to eliminate opposition
figures and to enhance its
own position. Using the Pasdaran as a springboard to more important
positions, Pasdaran leaders could always obtain access to the Revolutionary
Council and Khomeini. For example, President Khamenehi and Majlis speaker
Hashemi-Rafsanjani were both former commanders of the Pasdaran.
The first operations commander of the Pasdaran was Abbas Zamani (Abu
Sharif), a former teacher from Tehran. A graduate of the College of Education
(Islamic Law Section), Zamani was one of the founders of Hizballah in 1971.
As early as 1970, when he first traveled to Beirut, he established contacts
in Lebanon with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and various
guerrilla groups there. Unverified reports have claimed that the Pasdaran
has received organizational and training assistance from the PLO, but no
Palestinians were known to have visited the Aliabad or other Pasdaran training
grounds. Khomeini and his supporters in Iran, as well as many other Iranians,
have continued to support the Palestinians, however. For example, PLO leader
Yasir Arafat was one of the first world leaders to visit Tehran after the
Revolution; he opened a diplomatic mission in what formerly had been the
Israeli embassy.
The Pasdaran has been quite active in Lebanon. By the summer of 1982,
shortly after the second Israeli invasion of Lebanon,
the Pasdaran had nearly 1,000 personnel deployed in the predominantly
Shia Biqa Valley. From its headquarters near Baalbek, the Pasdaran has
provided consistent support to Islamic Amal, a breakaway faction of the
mainstream Amal organization that contemplated the establishment of an
Islamic state in Lebanon. The secular Baathist Syrian regime has found
the Pasdaran presence in Lebanon alternately helpful and threatening. In
1987 the Pasdaran's alleged involvement in anti-American terrorism in Lebanon
remained difficult to confirm.
By September 1980, the Pasdaran was capable of deploying forces at the
front. Initially, the forces were sent to conduct
operations against Kurdish rebels, but before long they were deployed
alongside regular armed forces units to conduct
conventional military operations. Despite differences, the Pasdaran
and the regular armed forces have cooperated on military matters.
The Pasdaran was also given the mandate of organizing a large people's
militia, the Basij, in 1980. In a 1985 Iranian News
Agency report, Hojjatoleslam Rahmani, head of the Basij forces of the
Pasdaran, was quoted as stating that there were close to
3 million volunteers in the paramilitary force receiving training in
some 11,000 centers. It is from Basij ranks that volunteers have
been drawn to launch "human wave" attacks against the Iraqis, particularly
around Basra. More recently, the Pasdaran, on
Khomeini's instructions, has initiated the training of women to serve
the Revolution.
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