Iran started a major campaign to produce and stockpile chemical weapons after a truce was agreed with Iraq after 1980–88
Iran–Iraq War. However, Iran ratified the
Chemical Weapons Convention in 1997. Iranian troops and civilians suffered tens of thousands of casualties from Iraqi
chemical weapons during the 1980–88 Iran–Iraq War. Since 2003, there have been repeated US and British allegations that Iranian forces were covertly involved in the
Iraq War. In 2004, Iranian armed forces
seized Royal Navy personnel, on the
Shatt al-Arab (Arvand Rud in Persian) river, between Iran and Iraq. They were released three days later following diplomatic discussions between the UK and Iran. In 2007, Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces also
took prisoner Royal Navy personnel prisoner when a boarding party from was seized in the waters between Iran and Iraq, in the Persian Gulf. They were released thirteen days later. Since 1979, there have been no foreign military bases present in Iran. According to Article 146 of the
Iranian Constitution, the establishment of any foreign military base in the country is forbidden, even for peaceful purposes. On 4 December 2011, an American
Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)
was captured by Iranian forces near the city of
Kashmar in northeastern
Iran. In 2012, it was announced that Iran's
Quds Force is operating inside Syria providing the government of Bashar al-Assad with intelligence and direction against rebel opposition. In December 2012, Iran stated it had captured an U.S.
Boeing Insitu ScanEagle UAV that violated its airspace over the Persian Gulf. Iran later stated it had also captured two other ScanEagles. In 2013, Iran was reported to be supplying money, equipment, technological expertise and
Uninhibited aerial vehicles to the former
Ba'athist Syrian government and
Hezbollah during the
Syrian civil war, as well as to the Iraqi government and its state-sponsored organizations like the
Popular Mobilization Forces, and the
Peshmerga during the
War on ISIL. In November 2015, Iranian special forces assisted in the
rescue of a Russian pilot that was shot down by Turkey, over Syria. In April 2016, Iran sent advisors from the
65th Airborne Special Forces Brigade to Syria in support of the government. In 2016, Revolutionary Guard forces
captured US Navy personnel when their boats entered Iranian territorial waters off the coast of Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf. They were released the next day following diplomatic discussions between the US and Iran. In March 2021 state TV in Iran showed footage of a "missile city" armed with ballistic and cruise weapons described as "a new Revolutionary Guard base" along the Gulf coast. In March 2023, Iran began the process of allowing women to enlist in the military for the first time since the
White Revolution. After the beginning of the
2026 Iran war, Iran fired large numbers of missiles in response to the Israeli and U.S. air campaigns. ==Structure==