List of Iranian two-star generals since 1979

Rank insignia of two-star officers in the IRIA (left) and the IRGC (right)

There are currently 3 two-star officers in the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran: one with the regular army (Artesh) background and two who served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

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	Position	Yrs.	CY
Active duty officeholders
	1		Hossein Hassani Sa'di	IRIA	Ground Force	Un­known	Deputy Commander of the Khatam-al Anbiya HQ (2016–present)	Un­known
	2		Mostafa Izadi	IRGC	Ground Force		Strategic Deputy Chief of the Armed Forces General Staff	17	29
	3		Abdolrahim Mousavi	IRIA	Ground Force	21 August 2017 [4]	Chief of the Armed Forces General Staff (2025-present) Commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army (2017–2025)	7	38
	4		Mohammad Pakpour	IRGC	Ground Force	13 June 2025 [5]	Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (2025-present) Commander of the IRGC-GF (2009–2025) Deputy of Operations of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (2005-2009)	0	46
Advisor-level generals
	1		Ali Shahbazi	IRIA	Ground Force	18 February 1991 [6]	Chief-of-Staff/Commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army (1988–2000)	9	31
	2		Mohsen Rezaee	IRGC	—		Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (1981–1997)	6	11
	3		Yahya Rahim Safavi	IRGC	Ground Force	10 September 1997	Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (1997–2007)	10	18
	4		Mohammad Ali Jafari	IRGC	Ground Force	3 September 2007 [7]	Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (2007–2019)	17	27
	5		Ataollah Salehi	IRIA	Ground Force	Un­known	Commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army (2005–2017)	Un­known

Deceased two-star generals

No.		Portrait	Name	Service	Branch	Position	Date of death
	1		Qasem-Ali Zahirnejad	IRIA	Ground Force	Unknown	13 October 1999 (Stroke)
	2		Ali Sayad Shirazi	IRIA	Ground Force	Deputy Chief of the Armed Forces General Staff (1993–1999)	10 April 1999 (Assassinated by MEK)
	3		Mohammad Salimi	IRIA	Ground Force	Commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army (2000–2005)	30 January 2016 (Unknown)
	4		Qasem Soleimani	IRGC	Quds Force	Commander of the Quds Force (1998–2020)	3 January 2020 (Assassinated by U.S.A)
	5		Hassan Firouzabadi	—		Chief of the Armed Forces General Staff (1989–2016)	3 September 2021 (COVID-19)
	6		Hossein Salami	IRGC	IRGC	Commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (2019–2025)	13 June 2025 (Assassinated by Israel)
	7		Mohammad Bagheri	IRGC	IRGC	Commander of the General Staff of Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran (2016–2025)	13 June 2025 (Assassinated by Israel)
	9		Gholam Ali Rashid	IRGC	Ground Force	Commander of Khatam-al Anbiya Central Headquarters (2016–2025)	13 June 2025 (Assassinated by Israel)
	10		Ali Shadmani	IRGC	IRGC	Commander of Khatam-al Anbiya Central Headquarters (2025) Deputy of Operations of the General Staff (2012–2016)	17 June 2025 (Assassinated by Israel)

References

1. Kevjn Lim (2015), "National Security Decision-Making in Iran" (PDF), Comparative Strategy (34), Taylor & Francis Group: 149–168, doi:10.1080/01495933.2015.1017347
2. Ward, Steven R. (2014). Immortal, Updated Edition: A Military History of Iran and Its Armed Forces. Georgetown University Press. p. 304. ISBN   9781626160651.
3. Homa Omid (2016), Islam and the Post-Revolutionary State in Iran, Springer, p. 120, ISBN   9781349232468
4. "Khamenei Appoints New Army Commander", Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 22 August 2017, retrieved 5 October 2017
5. "Khamenei Appoints New Army Commander", Iran International, 13 June 2025, retrieved 15 July 2025
6. "Granting Military Ranks to Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Commanders", leader.ir (in Persian), 18 February 1991, retrieved 5 October 2017
7. Alfoneh, Ali (September 2008). "What Do Structural Changes in the Revolutionary Guards Mean?" (PDF). Middle Eastern Outlooks. 7. Retrieved 18 February 2013.

• "The Islamic Republic's 13 generals". Iran Briefing. 3 February 2011. Retrieved 13 August 2013.