In February 1979, the IRIAF came into being when the former
Imperial Iranian Air Force (IIAF) was renamed following the Islamic Revolution in Iran. The date of renaming was 19 Bahman 1357. This "new" Iranian air force largely inherited the equipment and structure of the former IIAF, losing most of its leading officers in the course of post-revolutionary chaos, as well as due to the prosecution of those considered as loyal to the Shah, pro-U.S. or elsewhere by the new government in Tehran. Due to strained relations with the West, Iran had to procure new equipment from
Brazil, the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. Since the Revolution, the exact composition of the IRIAF has been hard to determine. Many aircraft belonging to the
Iraqi Air Force took refuge in Iran during the
Gulf War in 1991, and many were put into service with the IRIAF or taken apart for spare parts. Due to the continuous spare parts shortages faced by the air force, a decision was made in the late 1980s to develop a local aerospace industry to support the air force. In 2002, Iran with the co-operation of
Ukraine, successfully started the manufacture of the Iran-140, a licence-built version of the
Antonov An-140 transport aircraft. Simultaneously, Iran began construction of two domestically produced fighters, upgraded using technology from the
Grumman F-14 Tomcat and the
F-5 Tiger II. The fighters have been named the
Azarakhsh and the
Shafaq. Since then, Iran has also become self-sufficient in the manufacture of helicopters. Iran claims that it is capable of producing the U.S.
AH-1 Cobra gunship. Iran produces
Bell Helicopter Bell 212 and
Bell 206 helicopters in serial production. These are known respectively as the
Shabaviz 2-75 and the Shabaviz 206.
Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988) A series of purges and forced retirements resulted in the manpower of the airforce being halved between February 1979 and July 1980, leaving the IRIAF ill-prepared for the
Iran–Iraq War, also called the "1st Persian Gulf War". The sudden Iraqi air strikes against eight major Iranian airbases and four other military installations, launched on the afternoon of 22 September 1980, came as a complete surprise and caused a shock in the IRIAF. On 23 September 1980, the Iranians retaliated with
Operation Kaman 99, which involved 206 F-4, F-5 and F-14 aircraft. In that operation, 40
F-4 Phantoms, armed with Mark 82, Mark 83 and Mark 84 bombs and AGM-65 Maverick missiles, took off from Hamadan. After refueling mid-air, the Phantoms reached the Iraqi capital Baghdad, where they attacked the
al-Rashid,
al-Habbaniyah and
al-Kut airbases. Meanwhile, eight more F-4s took off from Tehran and launched a second attack on the al-Rashid airbase. Iran proceeded to launch 58 F-5E Tiger IIs from Tabriz, which were sent to attack Mosul Airbase. After the attack on Mosul Airbase, another 50 F-5Es were dispatched to strike Nasiriyah Airbase, which was heavily damaged. As all 148 Iranian F-4s and F-5s had been sent for a bombing raid on Iraq, 60 F-14 Tomcats were scrambled to defend Iranian airspace against a possible Iraqi retaliation. Iranian F-14s managed to down two Iraqi MiG-21s (one MiG-21RF and one MiG-21MF) and three Iraqi MiG-23s (MiG-23MS). An Iranian F-5E also shot down an Iraqi Su-20 during the operation. Iraqi MiG-23s managed to down two F-5Es, while Iraqi MiG-21s downed two F-5Es. The Iraqis also shot down one of their own Il-76MD strategic airlifters with a SA-3 SAM. The Iraqis were well prepared for the attack, and had flown most of their air force to other Arab countries, such as Saudi Arabia. This made sure that most of the Iraqi Air Force survived the operation. Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi military were dealt a heavy blow when Iranian Air Force vulnerabilities failed to materialize. All Iraqi air bases' near Iran were out of order for weeks and, according to Iran, Iraq's aerial efficiency was reduced by 55%. This allowed Iranians to regroup and prepare for the upcoming Iraqi invasion. Although the readiness rates of the IRIAF significantly increased in the following months, its overall role and influence declined, as the clerical government prioritized resources for the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) militias, and simultaneously attempted to develop a separate air arm for the IRGC. Despite limitations and sanctions, the IRIAF achieved a successful kill rate in air-to-air combat against Iraqi jets. In air-to-air engagements, Iran's kill ratio was roughly 5:1, which was surpassed by the Israelis against Syria in 1982 and the US in the Gulf war in 1991. It got to the point where Iraq ordered its pilots to avoid air-to-air engagements, especially with the F-14. After the successful liberation of most Iranian areas captured by the Iraqis in the first half of 1982, the situation of the IRIAF changed completely. From an air arm that was offensive by nature, it was largely relegated to air defense and relatively infrequent bombing attacks against targets of industrial and military significance inside Iraq. Simultaneously, the IRIAF had to learn how to maintain and keep operational its large fleet of U.S.-built aircraft and helicopters without outside help, due to American sanctions. Relying primarily on antiquated equipment purchased from the US in the 1970s, the Iranians began establishing their own aerospace industry. of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force From 1984 and 1985, the IRIAF found itself confronted by an ever-better organized and equipped opponent, as the Iraqi Air force—reinforced by deliveries of advanced fighter-bombers from France and the Soviet Union—launched numerous offensives against Iranian air bases, military bases, industrial infrastructures, power plants, oil-export hubs, and population centers. These became better known as "
The Tanker War" and "
The War of the Cities". To defend against an increasing number of Iraqi air strikes, the IRIAF leaned heavily on its large fleet of Grumman
F-14 Tomcat interceptor fighters. Tomcats were mainly deployed in defense of the strategically important
Khark Island, the main hub for Iranian oil exports, and Tehran. Over 300 air-to-air engagements against IQAF fighters, fighter-bombers, and bombers, were fought in these areas between 1980 and 1988. Confronted with the fact that it could not obtain replacements for equipment lost in what became a war of attrition against Iraq, the IRIAF remained defense-orientated for the rest of the conflict, conserving its surviving assets as a "force in being". From mid 1987, the IRIAF found itself confronted with U.S. Navy fighters over the Persian Gulf. A number of confrontations between July 1987 and August 1988 stretched available IRIAF assets to the limit, exhausting its capability to defend Iranian air space against Iraqi air strikes. With this brutal air fight during eight consecutive years, many Iranian
fighter pilots claimed world records during the war, such as General Yadollah Khalili, who holds the worldwide record of the longest straight flight in a
fighter plane, having flown an
F-14 non-stop for eleven hours,
aerial refuelling eight times during the process.
Fereydoun Ali Mazandarani was the first pilot to aerial refuel an F-14 in a night environment. As a result of this war, the IRIAF developed proven tactics and skillful battle tested pilots, becoming one of the most experienced air arms in the region. The most notable Iranian fighter pilots were
Fereydoun Ali Mazandarani,
Fazlollah Javidnia,
Jalil Zandi and
Shahram Rostami. Other notable pilots include,
Hossein Khalatbari,
Abbas Doran,
Hassan Harandi,
Abolfazl Mehreganfar,
Ghafour Jeddi,
Abbas Babaei and
Ali Eghbali Dogahe among many others.
Post Iran–Iraq War Hercules, 2010 Immediately after the end of the Iran–Iraq War, the IRIAF was partially rebuilt through limited purchases of
MiG-29 fighters and
Su-24 bombers from the Soviet Union, and
F-7M and FT-7 fighters from China. While providing needed reinforcement to the Iranian Air Force, these types never replaced the older, U.S.-built F-4 Phantoms, F-14s (the IRIAF is now the only air arm in the world using the fighter), or F-5s. Instead, the IRIAF continued its efforts to keep these types in service, and began a number of projects to refurbish and upgrade them.
1990s During the 1991
Persian Gulf War, numerous Iraqi pilots flew Iraqi Air Force aircraft to Iran to avoid destruction by coalition forces. The Iranians impounded these aircraft and never returned them, putting them in service in the IRIAF and claiming them as reparations for the Iran–Iraq War. The aircraft included several
Mirage F1EQ,
MiG-21PF,
MiG-23BN,
MiG-29A,
Su-20s,
Su-22M4,
Su-24MK,
Su-25K and a number of
Il-76s, including the secret, one-off AEW-AWACS Il-76 "ADNAN 1" prototype. Even after the cease-fire with Iraq, the IRIAF carried out several air raids against
Kurdish bases in northern Iraq. The first raid was conducted using eight F-4s armed with rockets and cluster bombs on 6 April 1992 against
People's Mujahedin of Iran's
Camp Ashraf. During this event one F-4 was shot down by either insurgent or Iraqi military AAA. Both pilots, Lt. Col Amini and Cpt. Sharifi, were captured, and freed in 1998. Despite threats of response, Iraq was not able to retaliate due to its own fight against Kurdish separatist guerrillas and the
Western-imposed no-fly zones that crippled and limited its air force's operations. In 2007, Iraq asked Iran to return some of the scores of Iraqi fighter planes that flew there ahead of the Gulf War in 1991. In 2014, Iran was receptive to the demands and was working on refurbishing an unspecified number of jets. In late 2014, Iran returned 130 military aircraft to Iraq.
2000s In 2006, after Iranian media published a series of reports suggesting that
Venezuela was interested in selling its 21
F-16 Fighting Falcons to Iran, a
Hugo Chavez adviser confirmed to the
Associated Press that "Venezuela's military is considering selling its fleet of U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets to another country, possibly Iran, in response to a U.S. ban on arms sales to President Hugo Chávez's government". In response,
Sean McCormack, a
U.S. State Department spokesperson, warned Venezuela that "without the written consent of the United States, Venezuela can't transfer these defense articles, and in this case F-16s, to a third country". , 2014 According to
Moscow Defense Brief, Russia delivered 6
Su-25UBK ground attack fighter-trainers, 12
Mi-171Sh military transport helicopters, 21 Mi-171 transport helicopters, and 3 Mi-17B-5 medical helicopters to Iran between 2000 and 2006. A $700 million repair and modernization program of the IRIAF MiG-29 and Su-24 fighters was also completed. On 22 September 2009, an IRIAF Il-76
collided with an F-5E shortly after an annual parade in Tehran and crashed near
Varamin, killing all seven people on board.
2010s At the end of 2014, there was evidence that the IRIAF was involved in the
2014 military intervention against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. A video released by
Aljazeera seemed to show an Iranian
F-4 Phantom II bombing some
ISIS buildings in
Diyala Governorate. On August 26, 2018, an F-5F crash-landed near Dezful, killing the pilot and injuring the co-pilot. On 25 December 2019, an MiG-29 crashed in the Sabalan mountains.
2020s The IRIAF air fleet is aging, some aircraft are more than 40 years old, and this has led to several crashes. In June 2021, another F-5F crashed near
Dezful, killing both crew. In February 2022, a F-5F crashed into a school in
Tabriz, killing both crew and a person on the ground. In May 2022, two Chinese-built
Chengdu J-7 crashed east of
Isfahan, killing the pilots. Since the
Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Iran and Russia have formed closer relations, with Iran supplying Russia with
loitering munitions such as the
HESA Shahed 136. Subsequently, Russia has begun to supply Iran with more advanced weapon systems, namely the
Yakovlev Yak-130 jet trainer, with the first two delivered in September 2023.
Iran–Israel War Due to ageing and outdated equipment, the IRIAF was unable to counter the
Israeli Air Force (IAF) during the June 2025
Twelve-Day War, enabling the IAF to achieve
air superiority over Iran; there was no sign that IRIAF fighter jets even left the ground. Initial waves of airstrikes by the
Israeli Air Force reportedly destroyed two parked F-14 Tomcats, while another Israeli airstrike the following week destroyed three more parked F-14s, according to Israeli sources. The
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) produced evidence that it destroyed what was reportedly the IRIAF's sole operable
aerial tanker, a KC-707 parked at
Mashhad Shahid Hasheminejad International Airport, about from Israel; this is possibly the farthest strike ever undertaken by the IDF. An expert interviewed by
The New York Times said that the destruction of the tanker would have little immediate effect because the IRIAF had not recently been conducting aerial refueling.
2026 On March 1, 2026, the
Israeli Air Force (IAF) destroyed two IRIAF fighters, an F-5 and an F-4 Phantom II at Tabriz Shahid Madani International Airport in northeast Iran. On March 2, 2026, the
US Central Command released footage of the destruction of two IRGC-AF Su-22 "Fitter" on the ground. On 2 March 2026, two Iranian low-flying
Su-24 tactical bombers (carrying external weapons) were targeting al-Udeid and
Ras Laffan Industrial City during the
2026 Iran war. After they did not respond to radio warnings, a
Qatari Air Force F-15QA shot them down. This marks the first aerial kills achieved by the Qatar Emiri Air Force. NBC also reported that that an Iranian F-5 was able to bomb a U.S airbase in Kuwait. == Structure ==