Rank insignia of two-star officers in the IRIA (left) and the IRGC (right).
There are currently 13 two-star officers in the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran: 4 with the regular army (Artesh) background, 8 who served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and one with no previous service.
Although the ranks of General (Arteshbod) and Lieutenant general (Sepahbod) exist in Iran by the book, the highest military rank practically available to active duty personnel of the Iranian Armed Forces during Islamic Republic era had been two-star rank of Major general (Sarlashgar) and its naval equivalent Rear admiral (Daryaban).[1]
While Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps did not use military ranks until 1991,[2] the Islamic Republic of Iran Army was mainly headed by mere colonels until the first post-revolutionary promotion ceremony of its personnel to general ranks in May 1987, in which Qasem-Ali Zahirnejad was the only one promoted to two-star rank.[3] No two-star general has ever served in the Law Enforcement Force of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Current two-star generals[]
| No. | Portrait | Name | Service | Branch | Date of rank | Pos. | Yrs. | CY | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Active duty officeholders | |||||||||
| 1 | 
|
Gholam Ali Rashid | IRGC | Ground Force | 18 April 1999[4] |
|
24 | 19 | |
| 2 | 
|
Ali Shamkhani | IRGC | Navy |
|
24 | 18 | ||
| IRIA | |||||||||
| 3 | 
|
Ataollah Salehi | IRIA | Ground Force | Unknown | Commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army (2005–2017) | Unknown | ||
| 4 | 
|
Hossein Hassani Sa'di | IRIA | Ground Force | Unknown | Deputy Commander of the Khatam-al Anbiya HQ (2016–present) | Unknown | ||
| 5 | 
|
Mohammad Ali Jafari | IRGC | Ground Force | 3 September 2007[5] | Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (2007–present) | 16 | 26 | |
| 6 | 
|
Mohammad Bagheri | IRGC | Ground Force | c. 2008 | Chief of the Armed Forces General Staff (2016–present) | 16 | 29 | |
| 7 | 
|
Mostafa Izadi | IRGC | Ground Force | Strategic Depty Chief of the Armed Forces General Staff | 16 | 29 | ||
| 8 | 
|
Qassem Soleimani | IRGC | Quds Force | 24 January 2011[6] | Commander of the Quds Force (1998–present) | 13 | 32 | |
| 9 | 
|
Abdolrahim Mousavi | IRIA | Ground Force | 21 August 2017[7] | Commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army (2017–present) | 6 | 38 | |
| Advisor-level generals | |||||||||
| 1 | 
|
Ali Shahbazi | IRIA | Ground Force | 18 February 1991[8] | Chief-of-Staff/Commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army (1988–2000) | 9 | 31 | |
| 2 | 
|
Mohsen Rezaei | IRGC | N/A | Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (1981–1997) | 6 | 11 | ||
| 3 | 
|
Hassan Firouzabadi | N/A | 17 April 1995[9] | Chief of the Armed Forces General Staff (1989–2016) | 21 | 6 | ||
| 4 | 
|
Yahya Rahim Safavi | IRGC | Ground Force | 10 September 1997 | Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (1997–2007) | 10 | 18 | |
Deceased two-star generals[]
| No. | Portrait | Name | Service | Branch | Date of rank | Pos. | Yrs. | CY | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 
|
Qasem-Ali Zahirnejad | IRIA | Ground Force | 8 May 1987[3] | Unknown | 2 | 29 | |
| 2 | 
|
Ali Sayad Shirazi | IRIA | Ground Force | 5 April 1999 | Depty Chief of the Armed Forces General Staff (1993–1999) | 0 | 35 | |
| 3 | 
|
Mohammad Salimi | IRIA | Ground Force | 21 May 2000[10] | Commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army (2000–2005) | 5 | 32 | |
References[]
- ↑ Kevjn Lim (2015). "National Security Decision-Making in Iran". Taylor & Francis Group. pp. 149–168. Digital object identifier:10.1080/01495933.2015.1017347. https://www.mashreghnews.ir/files/fa/news/1394/3/24/1080367_183.pdf.
- ↑ Ward, Steven R. (2014). Immortal, Updated Edition: A Military History of Iran and Its Armed Forces. Georgetown University Press. p. 304. ISBN 9781626160651.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Homa Omid (2016). "Islam and the Post-Revolutionary State in Iran". Springer. p. 120. ISBN 9781349232468.
- ↑ "Leader Gives Promotion Tablet of Martyr Sayad Shirazi to his Son". Islamic Republic News Agency. 18 April 1999. http://www.khamenei.de/imam_gb/news/news1999/apr1999.htm.
- ↑ Alfoneh, Ali (September 2008). "What Do Structural Changes in the Revolutionary Guards Mean?". http://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/20080923_23487MEO07_g.pdf. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
- ↑ Alfoneh, Ali (March 2011). "Iran’s Secret Network: Major General Qassem Suleimani’s Inner Circle". Archived from the original on 24 July 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120724182439/http://www.aei.org/files/2011/03/03/MEO-2011-03-No-2-g.pdf. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
- ↑ "Khamenei Appoints New Army Commander". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 22 August 2017. https://en.radiofarda.com/a/khamenei-appoints-iran-army-commander/28690298.html.
- ↑ "Granting Military Ranks to Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Commanders" (in Persian). leader.ir. 18 February 1991. http://www.leader.ir/fa/content/451/%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%B7%D8%A7%D9%8A-%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%AC%D9%87-%D8%A8%D9%87-%D9%81%D8%B1%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AF%D9%87%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%B3%D9%BE%D8%A7%D9%87-%D9%BE%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%82%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%8A.
- ↑ "The Ceremont to Grant the Rank of Major General to Dr. Seyyed Hassan Firouzabadi" (in Persian). leader.ir. 17 April 1995. http://www.leader.ir/fa/content/1114.
- ↑ "Supreme Leader Appoints New Military Commander". Kuwait News Agency. 21 May 2000. http://www.kuna.net.kw/ArticlePrintPage.aspx?id=1084323&language=en.
- "The Islamic Republic's 13 generals". Iran Briefing. 3 February 2011. http://iranbriefing.net/?p=4154. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
The original article can be found at List of Iranian two-star generals since 1979 and the edit history here.