The Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS), officially the Red Crescent Society of the Islamic Republic of Iran ( fa, جمعیت هلال احمر جمهوری اسلامی ایران, Jamʿiyyat-e Helâl-e Ahmar-e Jomhuri-ye Eslâmi-ye Irân) is a

non-governmental A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...

humanitarian organization An aid agency, also known as development charity, is an organization dedicated to distributing aid. Many professional aid organisations exist, both within government, between governments as multilateral donors and as private voluntary organizatio ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. Founded as the Red Lion and Sun Society in 1922, it became affiliated with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in 1924 and changed its name and emblem in 1980, informing the international community of '' Hilal Ahmar'' adoption while assuming the right to adopt the former emblem in future. The society is one of the world's largest national societies within IFRC and is noted for its special expertise in responding to earthquakes. Since inception, the IRCS has participated in a variety of public activities. Its core activity is to perform relief and rescue operations to help victims and the injured in natural disasters and accidents. It also engages a in wide range of humanitarian services in health and rehabilitation, training and research. The society had a therapeutic approach and was regarded a major healthcare institution with thousands of hospital beds across the country until 1979, when all of its medical facilities were transferred to the Ministry of Health. IRCS is an example of strong national societies that play an important role domestically and is held in high esteem by the Iranian general public.

Organization

IRCS has 30 governorate headquarters, one in each province of Iran, and 330 branches throughout the country, as of 2005. Based on the latest structure, it is made up of four departments: relief and rescue (''emdād wa najāt''), medical provisions (''tadārokāt-e pezeški''), volunteers (''dāvṭalabān''), and youth (''javānān''). The latter is largely made up of high school and university student members. According to the law enacted by the Iranian Parliament, the society is run by a chairman appointed by the

President of Iran The president of Iran ( fa, رئیس‌جمهور ایران, Rayis Jomhur-e Irān) is the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The president is the second highest-ranking official of Iran after the Supreme Leader. The president ...

. This procedure is in contrast with the elective nature of a society chairman as suggested by the IFRC. The secretary general is responsible for the administrative and executive affairs.

Other subordinates

IRCS owns and runs Helal Iran Textile Industries Co., a producer of blankets and tents. SOHA, a manufacturer of disposable medical devices is also owned by the society, as well as ''Shahrvand'', a daily newspaper. The ''Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal'', an English language peer-reviewed journal on clinical and scientific medicine, is another publication of IRCS.

Presidents

Heads of the society have been: * 1922–1949: Amir Amir-A'lam (deputy director) ** 1922–1925:

Mohammad Hassan Mirza Mohammad Hassan Mirza Qajar ( fa, شاهزاده محمدحسن میرزا قاجار; 20 November 1899 – 7 January 1943) was the brother of Ahmad Shah Qajar of Iran, and former Crown Prince of the Qajar dynasty. Soon after Reza Shah deposed the ...

(honorary) ** 1927–1931: Mostowfi ol-Mamalek (chairman) ** 1931–1941: Reza Pahlavi (symbolic) ** 1941–1949: Mohammad Reza Pahlavi * 1949–1979: Hossein Khatibi Nouri (managing director) ** 1949–1979:

Shams Pahlavi Shams Pahlavi ( fa, شمس پهلوی; – ) was an Iranian royal of the Pahlavi dynasty, who was the elder sister of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran. During her brother's reign she was the president of the Red Lion and Sun Soc ...

(chairwoman) * 1979–1980: Kazem Sami * 1980–1981: Ali Behzadnia * 1981–1983: Hassan Firouzabadi * 1983–1999: Seifollah Vahid Dastjerdi * 1999–2006: Ahmad-Ali Nourbala * 2006–2010: Masoud Khatami * 2010–2013: Abolhassan Faqih * 2013–2014:

Mohammad Farhadi Mohammad Farhadi ( fa, محمد فرهادی, born 1 January 1949) is an Iranian physician, politician and former Minister of Science, a position he held from 26 November 2014 until 20 August 2017. He was previously President of the Red Crescent ...

* 2014–2017: Amir-Mohsen Ziayi * 2017–2019: Ali Asqar Peyvandi * 2020–2021: Karim Hemmati * 2021–present: Pir-Hossein Kolivand

References

External links

Official WebsiteIranian Red Crescent Medical Journal
{{Authority control

1922 establishments in Iran Organizations established in 1922 Medical and health organisations based in Iran Emergency management in Iran First aid organizations Volunteer organizations Non-profit organisations based in Iran