The Most Famous
MILITARY PERSONNELS from Iran
This page contains a list of the greatest Iranian Military Personnels. The pantheon dataset contains 2,058 Military Personnels, 10 of which were born in Iran. This makes Iran the birth place of the 20th most number of Military Personnels behind Serbia, and Croatia.
Top 10
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Iranian Military Personnels of all time. This list of famous Iranian Military Personnels is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Iranian Military Personnels.
1. Tughril (990 - 1063)
With an HPI of 73.90, Tughril is the most famous Iranian Military Personnel. His biography has been translated into 49 different languages on wikipedia.
Abu Talib Muhammad Tughril ibn Mika'il (Persian: ابوطالبْ محمد طغرل بن میکائیل), better known as Tughril (طغرل / طغریل; also spelled Toghril / Tughrul), was a Turkoman chieftain, who founded the Seljuk Empire, ruling from 1037 to 1063. Tughril united many Turkoman warriors of the Central Asian steppes into a confederacy of tribes and led them in conquest of Khorasan and eastern Persia. He would later establish the Seljuk Sultanate after conquering Persia and taking the Abbasid capital of Baghdad from the Buyids in 1055. Tughril relegated the Abbasid Caliphs to state figureheads and took command of the caliphate's armies in military offensives against the Byzantine Empire and the Fatimids in an effort to expand his empire's borders and unite the Islamic world. Before the advent of the Seljuks, Persia was divided between several warring local powers, such as the Buyids, Kakuyids and Ghaznavids. As a result, it suffered from continuous war and destruction. However, under Tughril peace and prosperity were brought to the country and to Mesopotamia, a transition that was further reinforced due to the Seljuks' assimilation to Iranian-Muslim culture.
2. Qasem Soleimani (1957 - 2020)
With an HPI of 71.00, Qasem Soleimani is the 2nd most famous Iranian Military Personnel. His biography has been translated into 81 different languages.
Qasem Soleimani (Persian: قاسم سلیمانی, romanized: Qâsem Soleymâni; 11 March 1957 – 3 January 2020) was an Iranian military officer who served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). From 1998 until his assassination by the United States in 2020, he was the commander of the Quds Force, an IRGC division primarily responsible for extraterritorial and clandestine military operations, and played a key role in the Syrian Civil War through securing Russian intervention. He was described as "the single most powerful operative in the Middle East" and a "genius of asymmetric warfare." Former Mossad director Yossi Cohen said Soleimani's strategies had "personally tightened a noose around Israel's neck." In his later years, he was considered by some analysts to be the right-hand man of the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, and the second-most powerful person in Iran behind Khamenei. For attacks orchestrated or attempted against American and other targets abroad, Soleimani was personally sanctioned by the United Nations and the European Union, and was designated as a terrorist by the United States in 2005. Soleimani was assassinated by a targeted drone strike on 3 January 2020 in Baghdad, Iraq. Iranian government officials publicly mourned Soleimani's death and launched missiles against U.S. military bases in Iraq, wounding 110 American troops. Iranian outlets subsequently represented Soleimani as a national hero.
3. Bahram Chobin (600 - 592)
With an HPI of 64.19, Bahram Chobin is the 3rd most famous Iranian Military Personnel. His biography has been translated into 39 different languages.
Bahrām Chōbīn (Persian: بهرام چوبین) or Wahrām Chōbēn (Middle Persian: 𐭥𐭫𐭧𐭫𐭠𐭭; died 591), also known by his epithet Mehrbandak ("servant of Mithra"), was a nobleman, general, and political leader of the late Sasanian Empire and briefly its ruler as Bahram VI (r. 590–591). Son of general Bahram Gushnasp and hailing from the noble House of Mihran, Bahram began his career as the governor of Ray, and was promoted to the army chief (spahbed) of the northwestern portions of the empire after capturing the Byzantine stronghold of Dara, fighting in the war of 572–591. After a massive Hephthalite-Turkic invasion of the eastern Sasanian domains in 588, he was appointed as the spahbed in Khorasan, beginning a campaign that ended in a decisive Iranian victory. Bahram earned an elevated position in Iran due to his noble descent, character, skills, and accomplishments. The Sasanian king (shah) Hormizd IV (r. 579–590) was already distrustful of Bahram and stripped the increasingly popular general of his commands. Bahram began a rebellion aiming to reestablish the "more rightful" Arsacid Empire, identifying himself with the promised savior of the Zoroastrian faith. Before he had reached the Sasanian capital of Ctesiphon, Hormizd was assassinated in support of his son, Khosrow II, by another anti-Hormizd faction led by the two Ispahbudhan brothers, Vistahm and Vinduyih. As Bahram captured Ctesiphon, Khosrow II fled to the Byzantine Empire, with the assistance of which he launched a campaign against Bahram, who was defeated with his outnumbered forces, but managed to flee to the Western Turkic Khaganate where he was well received. He was assassinated shortly thereafter at the instigation of Khosrow II, who was then the shah. Bahram Chobin's legacy survived even after the Arab conquest of Iran among Iranian nationalists, as well as in Persian literature.
4. Datis (-600 - -490)
With an HPI of 61.57, Datis is the 4th most famous Iranian Military Personnel. His biography has been translated into 30 different languages.
Datis or Datus (Greek: Δάτης, Old Iranian: *Dātiya-, Achaemenid Elamite: Da-ti-ya) was a Median noble and admiral who served the Persian Empire during the reign of Darius the Great. He was familiar with Greek affairs and maintained connections with Greek leaders. He is noted for his joint leadership with the younger Artaphernes of the Persian forces in the first campaign of the Persian Wars against the Greeks.
5. Harpagus (-700 - -600)
With an HPI of 59.62, Harpagus is the 5th most famous Iranian Military Personnel. His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.
Harpagus, also known as Harpagos (Ancient Greek Ἅρπαγος; Akkadian: Arbaku), was a Median general during the 6th century BC, credited by Herodotus as having put Cyrus the Great on the throne through his defection during the Battle of Pasargadae.
6. Esmail Ghaani (b. 1957)
With an HPI of 54.88, Esmail Ghaani is the 6th most famous Iranian Military Personnel. His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.
Esmail Qaani (also spelled as Ismail Qaani; Persian: اسماعیل قاآنی; born 8 August 1957) is an Iranian brigadier general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and commander of its Quds Force, a division primarily responsible for extraterritorial operations. The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, appointed Qaani to succeed Qasem Soleimani as Commander of the Quds Force. In October 2024, speculation arose that he was either killed or injured alongside Hashem Safieddine, who was targeted in the October 2024 Dahieh airstrike. IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency reported that he will be awarded the Fath medal within days. Qaani reappeared at a ceremony for Abbas Nilforoushan later that month, according to the Islamic Republic of Iran News Network.
7. Hossein Salami (b. 1960)
With an HPI of 52.37, Hossein Salami is the 7th most famous Iranian Military Personnel. His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.
Hossein Salami (Persian: حسین سلامی; born 1960) is an Iranian military officer who is the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Born in Golpayegan, he joined the IRGC during the Iran–Iraq War, when he was a college student. He rose through the ranks, becoming deputy commander. On 21 April 2019, the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, appointed him as the new Commander-in-Chief of the IRGC, replacing major general Mohammad Ali Jafari. Salami stands out among the commanders of the IRGC for his use of fiery and aggressive speeches targeting the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia. According to researcher Mehdi Khalaji, he has relied on "innovatively circumventing economic sanctions, developing Iran’s missile programme and maintaining the regime’s defiant regional policy".
8. Jalil Zandi (1951 - 2001)
With an HPI of 50.64, Jalil Zandi is the 8th most famous Iranian Military Personnel. His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.
Jalil Zandi (Persian: جلیل زندی; 1951–2001) was a fighter pilot in the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) who served during all of the Iran–Iraq War. His combat record qualifies him as one of the most successful pilots of that conflict in air-to-air combat, as well as one of the most successful Iranian aces ever. It also made him the most successful pilot in the history of the F-14 Tomcat.
9. Ahmad Vahidi (b. 1958)
With an HPI of 46.97, Ahmad Vahidi is the 9th most famous Iranian Military Personnel. His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.
Ahmad Shah Cheraghi (Persian: احمد وحیدی, born 27 June 1958), better known as Ahmad Vahidi, is an Iranian military commander of the Revolutionary Guards and former Minister of Interior from 2021 to 2024. He is currently member of the Expediency Discernment Council. In 1988, he was appointed commander of its extraterritorial special forces, Quds Force. He was the minister of defense under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, having held the post from 3 September 2009 until 15 August 2013. Vahidi was formerly president of the Supreme National Defense University from August 2016 to 2021.
10. Mohammad Ali Jafari (b. 1957)
With an HPI of 46.54, Mohammad Ali Jafari is the 10th most famous Iranian Military Personnel. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.
Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari (Persian: محمدعلی جعفری, born 1 September 1957, also known as Aziz Jafari and Ali Jafari) is a retired Iranian military officer and former commander-in-chief of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from 2007 to 2019. He was appointed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on 1 September 2007, succeeding Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi. According to a 2 September 2007 report by Radio Free Europe, Radio Farda, Jafari was close to the conservative subfaction, which included Mohsen Rezaee, the secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council and former commander of the IRGC and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a former IRGC member and the mayor of Tehran. The replacement of Safavi was thought to be a move to strengthen the conservative faction as a counterweight to the radicalizers around President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to whom Safavi was close . Jafari was seen as a tactician, organizer, and 'technical' military man, according to Radio Free Europe. The EU's official journal said the three Iranian Revolutionary Guard members, Jafari, General Qasem Soleimani, and the Guard's deputy commander for intelligence, Hossein Taeb, were subject to sanctions for providing equipment and support to Syrian protesters.
People
Pantheon has 12 people classified as Iranian military personnels born between 700 BC and 1962. Of these 12, 4 (33.33%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Iranian military personnels include Esmail Ghaani, Hossein Salami, and Ahmad Vahidi. The most famous deceased Iranian military personnels include Tughril, Qasem Soleimani, and Bahram Chobin. As of April 2024, 2 new Iranian military personnels have been added to Pantheon including Ahmad Vahidi, and Razi Mousavi.
Living Iranian Military Personnels
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Esmail Ghaani
1957 - Present
HPI: 54.88
Hossein Salami
1960 - Present
HPI: 52.37
Ahmad Vahidi
1958 - Present
HPI: 46.97
Mohammad Ali Jafari
1957 - Present
HPI: 46.54
Deceased Iranian Military Personnels
Go to all RankingsTughril
990 - 1063
HPI: 73.90
Qasem Soleimani
1957 - 2020
HPI: 71.00
Bahram Chobin
600 - 592
HPI: 64.19
Datis
600 BC - 490 BC
HPI: 61.57
Harpagus
700 BC - 600 BC
HPI: 59.62
Jalil Zandi
1951 - 2001
HPI: 50.64
Nasser Shabani
1957 - 2020
HPI: 39.54
Razi Mousavi
1962 - 2023
HPI: 0.00
Newly Added Iranian Military Personnels (2024)
Go to all RankingsOverlapping Lives
Which Military Personnels were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 4 most globally memorable Military Personnels since 1700.
