MODAFL
Iran's defence ministry, responsible for arms procurement, production and military logistics.
KavoshCom Asia R and D Group of Tehran sat at the centre of a ten-node procurement network that the Treasury designated on 29 September 2026 and tied to this ministry.
Last refreshed: 1 October 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
What does Iran's MODAFL ministry actually control, and why does it keep appearing in US sanctions?
Timeline for MODAFL
Treasury names 10 Iran missile suppliers
Iran Conflict 2026Controlled SAIRAN/SAAFTA, the end-user of the illicitly procured hardware
Iran Conflict 2026: US hits Iran defence procurement ringBackground
The Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics is Iran's defence ministry. President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani created it in 1989 by merging the existing defence ministry with the separate ministry that had supplied the Revolutionary Guard Corps since 1982, ending two parallel procurement systems. It sits in the executive branch and reports to the President rather than to The Supreme Leader.
It does not command troops. Operational command rests with the General Staff, which answers to The Supreme Leader. What the ministry does is plan, fund, procure and build, and it directs Iran's state arms manufacturers: Iran Electronics Industries, known as SAIRAN, the Aerospace Industries Organisation, which covers ballistic and cruise missiles, and the Defence Industries Organisation.
Four decades of embargo turned Iran from a buyer into a maker, and these subsidiaries now assemble most of what its forces field. That is why the ministry is a standing target of sanctions rather than an occasional one: the components it cannot make still have to be bought abroad, through intermediaries that get designated and replaced.
Treasury keeps designating the ministry's buyers
The designation of 29 September 2026 ran under Executive Order 13382, the proliferation authority that reaches delivery systems as well as warheads. Three of the ten companies shared the Cavalier Dynamics name and were incorporated in Riyadh, Islamabad and Istanbul; the Treasury says electronics and connectors reached Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company, which builds uncrewed aircraft, and Shahid Bakeri Industrial Group, which it identifies with solid-fuelled ballistic missile work.
On 29 May 2026, four months earlier, the Treasury had sanctioned eight people and five firms over a scheme that faked American business identities to get counter-surveillance equipment shipped to the ministry, moved through two Dubai fronts. Neither action reaches the ministry's output. Both aim at the intermediaries that buy for it abroad.
What does Iran's MODAFL ministry do?
Is MODAFL the same as the IRGC?
Why does MODAFL keep appearing in US sanctions against Iran?
What is SAIRAN and how does it relate to MODAFL?
What does MODAFL stand for?
Does Iran's defence ministry command the armed forces?
When was Iran's defence ministry created?
Which Iranian arms makers does the defence ministry control?
Why is Iran's defence ministry under United States sanctions?
