Revolutionary Guards Expand Defense Plans

Activation of “Passive Defense” in Sensitive Areas

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Gholamreza Jalali, the head of Islamic Republic’s Passive Defense Council said, “By the ‎end of the year, passive defense mechanism would be activated in all provinces and ‎sensitive areas in the country.” ‎

Following this news and Jalali’s remarks, the National Passive Defense Council’s news ‎office added, “The Majlis tasked the government to cover vulnerabilities in the country’s ‎infrastructure (in face of a potential military strike against Iran) in the Fourth ‎Development Plan and we have devised guidelines based on that. According to these ‎guidelines, a deputy is assigned in every executive organization as that organization’s ‎passive defense representative. In all executive organizations the requisite planning in ‎this regard has been implemented.” ‎

In military language, Passive Defense is referred to the totality of structural and ‎infrastructural measures taken to minimize damage from a potential enemy attack and ‎reduce the enemy’s precision and targeting capabilities, thus imposing higher costs on the ‎enemy. As such, factors such as concealment, camouflage, deception, division, ‎dispersion and protection are emphasized in passive defense. ‎

Passive Defense has become among the Islamic Republic’s defense plans, and according ‎to the head of the National Passive Defense Council, “The council’s first priority is to ‎disperse passive defense capabilities in the provinces.” He added, “We hope to activate ‎passive defense measures in all of the country’s provinces and sensitive areas by the end ‎of the year.” ‎

Noting the reduction in damages from a potential military attack, Jalali stressed that ‎‎“research and the implementation of programs aimed at reducing organizational ‎vulnerabilities” and while cautioning the necessity of defending such targets as nuclear ‎centers, radio and television, the Interior Ministry, provinces, Ministry of Energy, ‎Ministry of oil, Ministry of Communications and the central bank, said, “210 projects ‎have been briefed for these organizations. We also have good plans for safeguarding ‎nuclear facilities.”‎

According to the head of the National Passive Defense Council, thus far “170 billion ‎Tomans” have been set aside for such programs and “with the president’s cooperation, ‎plans are under way to dedicate 5 percent of provincial budgets to protect the ‎infrastructure of each province.” ‎