General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Persian: ستاد کل نیروهای مسلح جمهوری اسلامی ایران, romanized: Setad-e Kol-e Niruha-ye Mosallah-e Jomhuri-ye Islami-ye Iran) is the most senior military body in Iran, to implement policy, monitor and coordinate activities within the Armed Forces.^[5]

General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran
ستاد کل نیروهای مسلح جمهوری اسلامی ایران (Persian)
Seal of the General Staff of the Armed Forces
Flag of the General Staff of the Armed Forces
Incumbent Abdolrahim Mousavi since 13 June 2025
Iranian Armed Forces
Type	General staff
Reports to	Military office of the Supreme Leader[1]
Appointer	Supreme Leader of Iran
Formation	June 1988[2][3][4]
First holder	Hassan Firouzabadi
Deputy	Deputy chief

Iran's two existing separate militaries, the Islamic Republic of Iran Army (Arteš) and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (Sepāh) are formally subordinate to the general staff, as well as Iran's sole national police force, the Police Command.^[5]

The organization was set up in 1989 to enhance cooperation and counterbalance the rivalry between the armed forces and is directly decreed by Supreme Leader of Iran, while the Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics, responsible for planning, logistics and funding of the armed forces is part of the executive branch under the President of Iran.^[5]

The staff's commander, Mohammed Bagheri, was killed along with 20 other senior officers during the series of Israeli strikes launched on 13 June 2025.^[6] He was replaced by Abdolrahim Mousavi.^[7]

List of chiefs

No.	Portrait	Chief	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Defence branch	Ref.
Chief of the Headquarters of the General Command of Forces
–		Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (1934–2017) Acting	June 1988	1988	0 years	none	–
1		Mousavi, Mir-HosseinMir-Hossein Mousavi (born 1942)	1988	1989	0–1 years	none	–
Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces
1		Firouzabadi, HassanMajor general Hassan Firouzabadi (1951–2021)	26 September 1989	28 June 2016	26 years, 276 days	Basij	[8]
2		Bagheri, MohammadMajor general Mohammad Bagheri (c. 1960–2025)	28 June 2016	13 June 2025 †	8 years, 350 days	IRGC	[9]
–		Sayyari, HabibollahRear admiral Habibollah Sayyari (born 1955) Acting	13 June 2025	13 June 2025	0 days	NEDAJA	[10][11]
3		Mousavi, AbdolrahimMajor general Abdolrahim Mousavi (born 1960)	13 June 2025	Incumbent	50 days	NEZAJA	[12]

Timeline

List of deputy chiefs

No.	Portrait	Deputy Chief	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Defence branch	Chief	Ref.
1		Firouzabadi, HassanMajor general Hassan Firouzabadi (1951–2021)	1988	26 September 1989	0–1 years	Basij	Mir-Hossein Mousavi	–
2		Forouzandeh, MohammadMajor general Mohammad Forouzandeh (born 1960)	30 September 1989	11 September 1993	3 years, 346 days	IRGC	Hassan Firouzabadi	–
3		Shirazi, Ali SayadLieutenant general Ali Sayad Shirazi (1944–1999)	11 September 1993	10 April 1999 †	5 years, 211 days	NEZAJA	Hassan Firouzabadi	–
4		Rashid, Gholam AliMajor general Gholam Ali Rashid (1953–2025)	April 1999	July 2016	17 years, 3 months	IRGC	Hassan Firouzabadi	–
5		Mousavi, AbdolrahimMajor general Abdolrahim Mousavi (born 1960)	5 July 2016	August 2017	1 year	NEZAJA	Mohammad Bagheri	[13]
6		Salehi, AtaollahMajor general Ataollah Salehi (born 1950)	August 2017	2 July 2019	1 year, 11 months	NEZAJA	Mohammad Bagheri	[14]
7		Ashtiani, Mohammad-Reza GharaeiBrigadier general Mohammad-Reza Gharaei Ashtiani (born c. 1960)	2 July 2019	19 September 2021	2 years, 79 days	NEZAJA	Mohammad Bagheri	[14]
8		Nasirzadeh, AzizBrigadier general Aziz Nasirzadeh (born 1965)	19 September 2021	28 August 2024	2 years, 344 days	NAHAJA	Mohammad Bagheri	[15]
(7)		Ashtiani, Mohammad-Reza GharaeiBrigadier general Mohammad-Reza Gharaei Ashtiani (born c. 1960)	28 August 2024	Incumbent	339 days	NEZAJA	Mohammad Bagheri Abdolrahim Mousavi	[16]

Timeline

See also

• Iran portal

• Joint Staff of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
• Joint Staff of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army