List of commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

The following individuals have been identified as commanding officers (currently or in the past) of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which is a branch of the Iranian Armed Forces.

Commanders-in-Chief

Javad Mansouri [fa] was IRGC's "first unofficial commander"^[1] and acting during its "early formative phase".^[2] Abbas Agha-Zamani [fa], however is considered the "first official operational commander" and was appointed by the Commander-in-Chief.^[1]

No.	Commander-in-Chief	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Ref.
–	Mansouri, JavadJavad Mansouri [fa] Acting	March 1979	May 1979	3 months	^[2]
–	Chamran, MostafaMostafa Chamran (1932–1981) Acting	Summer 1979	Summer 1979	de facto officeholder	^[2]
–	Rafsanjani, AkbarAkbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (1934–2017) Acting	August 1979	August 1979	less than a month	^[2]^[1]
–	Lahouti, HassanHassan Lahouti [fa] Acting	October 1979	November 1979	2 months	^[1]
–	Kian, FereydounLieutenant colonel Fereydoun Kian Acting	late 1979	late 1979	Unknown	^[2]
–	Khamenei, AliAli Khamenei (born 1939) Acting	24 November 1979	24 February 1980	92 days	^[1]
–	Duzduzani, AbbasAbbas Duzduzani (1942–2018) Acting	1980	1980	Unknown	^[1]^[3]
1	Agha-Zamani, AbbasAbbas Agha-Zamani [fa]	2 June 1980	27 June 1980	25 days	^[4]
2	Rezaee, MortezaMorteza Rezaee [fa]	22 July 1980	20 September 1981	1 year, 60 days	^[4]
3	Rezaee, MohsenMajor general Mohsen Rezaee (born 1954)	20 September 1981	19 September 1997	15 years, 364 days	^[4]
4	Safavi, Yahya RahimMajor general Yahya Rahim Safavi (born 1952)	19 September 1997	10 September 2007	9 years, 356 days	^[4]
5	Jafari, Mohammad AliMajor general Mohammad Ali Jafari (born 1957)	10 September 2007	21 April 2019	11 years, 223 days	^[4]
6	Salami, HosseinMajor general Hossein Salami (born 1960)	21 April 2019	Incumbent	5 years, 215 days	^[5]

Deputy Commanders-in-Chief

No.	Deputy Commander-in-Chief	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Ref.
1	Kolahdouz, YousefMajor Yousef Kolahdouz (1946–1981)	July 1980	29 September 1981	1 year, 90 days	^[6]
2	Shamkhani, AliAli Shamkhani (born 1955)	June 1982	24 September 1989	7 years, 115 days	^[2]^[7]
3	Safavi, Yahya RahimYahya Rahim Safavi (born 1952)	24 September 1989	10 September 1997	7 years, 351 days	–
4	Bagher Zolghadr, MohammadBrigadier general Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr (born c. 1954/1955)	13 September 1997	30 April 2006	8 years, 229 days	–
5	Rezaee, MortezaBrigadier general Morteza Rezaee [fa]	30 April 2006	22 May 2008	2 years, 22 days	–
6	Hejazi, MohammadBrigadier general Mohammad Hejazi (1956–2021)	22 May 2008	4 October 2009	1 year, 135 days	–
7	Salami, HosseinBrigadier general Hossein Salami (born 1960)	4 October 2009	21 April 2019	9 years, 199 days	–
8	Fadavi, AliCommodore Ali Fadavi (born 1961)	16 May 2019	Incumbent	5 years, 190 days	–

Chiefs of the Joint Staff

Commanders of military branches

Ground Forces

Aerospace Force

Navy

Quds Force

Basij

Chairmen of intelligence agencies

Intelligence Organization

Intelligence Protection Organization

Supreme Leader Representatives

No.	Representative	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Ref.
1	Lahouti, HassanHassan Lahouti [fa]	1979	1979	0 years	–
2	Mahallati, FazlollahFazlollah Mahallati [fa]	1980	1981	0–1 years	–
3	Taheri-Khorramabadi, HassanHassan Taheri-Khorramabadi [fa]	1981	1982	0–1 years	–
4	Faker, Mohammad-RezaMohammad-Reza Faker [fa]	1982	1983	0–1 years	–
(2)	Mahallati, FazlollahFazlollah Mahallati [fa]	1983	1986	2–3 years	–
5	Nouri, AbdollahAbdollah Nouri (born 1950)	1989	1990	0–1 years	–
6	Mohammadi-Araghi, MahmoudMahmoud Mohammadi-Araghi [fa]	1990	1991	0–1 years	–
7	Movahedi-Kermani, Mohammad-AliMohammad-Ali Movahedi Kermani (born 1932)	1991	2006	14–15 years	–
8	Saeedi Shahroudi, AliAli Saeedi Shahroudi [fa]	2006	2018	11–12 years	–
9	Haji Sadeghi, AbdollahAbdollah Haji Sadeghi [fa]	2018	Incumbent	5–6 years	–

Ministers

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Steven O'Hern (2012). Iran's Revolutionary Guard: The Threat That Grows While America Sleeps. Potomac Books, Inc. pp. 18, 22–23. ISBN 978-1597977012.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Nikola B. Schahgaldian, Gina Barkhordarian (March 1987), The Iranian Military Under the Islamic Republic (PDF), RAND, p. 118, ISBN 978-0-8330-0777-3, retrieved 15 January 2017
^ Sinkaya, Bayram (2015), The Revolutionary Guards in Iranian Politics: Elites and Shifting Relations, Routledge, pp. 96–97, ISBN 978-1317525646
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Forozan, Hesam (2015), The Military in Post-Revolutionary Iran: The Evolution and Roles of the Revolutionary Guards, Routledge, Table 2.1: Commander-in-Chief of the Sepah Since 1979, p 59, ISBN 9781317430742
^ Gladstone, Rick. "Iran's Supreme Leader Replaces Head of Revolutionary Guards". NYT. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
^ Allamian, Saeed (2016). I say for the history: Memories of Mohsen Rafighdoust (in Persian). Soore-ye Mehr. p. 127. ISBN 9786000302931. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
^ Katzman, Kenneth (September 1993). "The Pasdaran: institutionalization of revolutionary armed force". Iranian Studies. 26 (3–4): 389–402. doi:10.1080/00210869308701809.

[pb-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Steven O'Hern (2012). Iran's Revolutionary Guard: The Threat That Grows While America Sleeps. Potomac Books, Inc. pp. 18, 22–23. ISBN 978-1597977012.

[R-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Nikola B. Schahgaldian, Gina Barkhordarian (March 1987), The Iranian Military Under the Islamic Republic (PDF), RAND, p. 118, ISBN 978-0-8330-0777-3, retrieved 15 January 2017

[b-3] Sinkaya, Bayram (2015), The Revolutionary Guards in Iranian Politics: Elites and Shifting Relations, Routledge, pp. 96–97, ISBN 978-1317525646

[F-4] Forozan, Hesam (2015), The Military in Post-Revolutionary Iran: The Evolution and Roles of the Revolutionary Guards, Routledge, Table 2.1: Commander-in-Chief of the Sepah Since 1979, p 59, ISBN 9781317430742

[NYT2019-5] Gladstone, Rick. "Iran's Supreme Leader Replaces Head of Revolutionary Guards". NYT. Retrieved 21 April 2019.

[6] Allamian, Saeed (2016). I say for the history: Memories of Mohsen Rafighdoust (in Persian). Soore-ye Mehr. p. 127. ISBN 9786000302931. Retrieved 8 November 2017.

[Katzman-7] Katzman, Kenneth (September 1993). "The Pasdaran: institutionalization of revolutionary armed force". Iranian Studies. 26 (3–4): 389–402. doi:10.1080/00210869308701809.

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v t e Commanders of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
Commander-in-Chief	Agha-Zamani (1980) Morteza Rezaee (1980) Mohsen Rezaee (1980–97) Safavi (1997–07) Jafari (2007–19) Salami (2019–present)
Chief of Joint Staff	Afshar (1984–87) Forouzandeh (1987–89) Zolghadr (1989–97) Alaei (1997–00) Ahmadian (2000–07) Hejazi (2007–08)
Ground Force	Safavi (1985–89) Izadi (1989–92) Jafari (1992–05) Kazemi (2005–06) Zahedi (2006–08) Asadi (2008–09) Pakpour (2009–present)
Aerospace Force	Refan (1985–90) Dehghan (1990–91) Jalali (1991–97) Ghalibaf (1997–00) Kazemi (2000–05) Zahedi (2005–06) Salami (2006–09) Hajizadeh (2009–present)
Navy	Alaei (1985–90) Shamkhani (1990–97) Ahmadian (1997–00) Saffari (2000–10) Fadavi (2010–18) Tangsiri (2018–present)
Quds Force	Vahidi (1988–98) Soleimani (1998–2020) Qaani (2020–present)
Mobilization Force	Rahmani (1984–90) Afshar (1990–98) Hejazi (1998–07) Taeb (2007–09) Naqdi (2009–16) Gheybparvar (2016–19) Soleimani (2019–present)
Intelligence	Taeb (2009–22) Kazemi (2022–present)
Intelligence Protection	Saeedi (1984–94) Morteza Rezaee (1994–06) Ramezani (2006–08) Kazemi (2008–22)
Supreme Leader Representative	Lahouti (1979) Mahallati (1980–81; 1983–86) Taheri (1981–82) Faker (1982–83) Nouri (1989–90) Mohammadi (1990–91) Movahedi (1991–06) Saeedi (2006–18) Hajisadeghi (2018–present)
Ministers	Rafighdoost (1982–88) Shamkhani (1988–89)
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps sardars