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Order of Fath

{{Infobox military award

| name = Fath Medal

| image = 80px

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| caption = All grades of Order of Fath

| presenter = Commander-in-chief Supreme Leader of Iran

| country = {{IRN}}

| type = Decoration

| eligibility =

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| campaign =

| status = Currently awarded

| description =

| motto =

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| established =

| firstawarded = September 27, 1989{{cite news|first = Mahdi|last = Poursafa|url = http://www.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=13921029000489|work = Fars News|script-title = fa:گزارش فارس از تاریخچه نشان‌های نظامی ایران، از «اقدس» تا «فتح»؛ مدال‌هایی که بر سینه سرداران ایرانی نشسته است|trans-title = From "Aghdas" to "Fath": Medals resting on the chest of Iranian Commanders|date = January 20, 2014|access-date = January 4, 2020|language = fa}}

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| higher =

| same = Fath grade 1
Fath grade 2
Fath grade 3

| lower =

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| image2 = 150px

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| caption2 = Ribbon of the medal

}}

File:اعطای نشان نظامی فتح توسط خامنه ای به حاجی زاده.jpg receiving the Order of Fath from the Supreme Leader of Iran, after October 2024 Iranian strikes against Israel]]

The Fath Medal ({{langx|fa|نشان فتح|lit=Conquer Medal}}) is a military award of the Iranian armed forces which is awarded by Commander-in-chief, Supreme Leader of Iran. The medal is the likeness of three Palm leaves over Khorramshahr's grand mosque (as a symbol of resistance), Flag of Iran and the word "Fath".

The medal is awarded in three grades, typically based on the rank of the recipient.{{cite journal|first = Owain|last = Raw-Rees|title = Awards of the Islamic Republic of Iran|year = 2008|volume = 59|issue = 3|pages = 14–16|journal = Journal of the Orders and Medals Society of America|url = http://www.omsa.org/files/jomsa_arch/Splits/2008/34256_JOMSA_Vol59_3_16.pdf}}

Recipients

According to Owain Raw-Rees,{{cite journal|title = About the Authors|volume = 60|issue = 6|year = 2009|page = 2|url = http://www.omsa.org/files/jomsa_arch/Splits/2009/48357_JOMSA_Vol60_6_04.pdf|journal = Journal of the Orders and Medals Society of America}} the medal is awarded in three grades. Senior commanders are typically awarded a first class medal, Colonels and Brigadiers usually receive a second class award, while third class awards are granted to those ranked at or below Lieutenant Colonel. However, these guidelines are not applied strictly.

The first recipient of the Order of Fath, First Class, was Mohammad Hossein Fahmideh, one of three to receive the honour on September 27, 1989.{{cite news|title = Leader Confers Medal on IRGC Commanders for Capturing US Marines|date = January 31, 2016|work = Fars News Agency|access-date = January 4, 2020|url = https://en.farsnews.com/13941111001147|quote = The first ever medals awarded to the Iranian militaries happened after the Iran-Iraq War on September 27, 1989. The first grade medals went to: Martyr Hossein Fahmideh, 13-year-old volunteer soldier of Basij, Mohsen Rezayee, the former IRGC commander, and Martyr Ali Sayyad Shirazi, the former army chief. In addition, 21 people received 2nd and 29 people received 3rd degree medals.}} Fahmideh's award was posthumous as he was killed in November 1980 when, as a 13-year-old boy, he was fighting in the Iran–Iraq War. He disabled an Iraqi tank by jumping under it while wearing a belt of grenades from which he had removed the pins.{{cite news|title = Commander Stresses IRGC Readiness to Combat Enemy Troops in PG|date = October 29, 2007|work = Fars News Agency|url = http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8608070681|url-status = dead|archive-date = October 31, 2007|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071031223126/http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8608070681}}{{cite book|last = Mitchell|first = Jolyon P.|title = Promoting Peace, Inciting Violence: The Role of Religion and Media|year = 2012|publisher = Routledge|location = Abingdon, Oxon|isbn = 9780415557467|chapter = Celebrating Matyrdom – Prologue|pages = 47–53|chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=jLGcNb1_H1YC&dq=Fahmideh&pg=PA47}} In so doing, Fahmideh halted the advance of a line of tanks.{{cite book|title = Martyrdom: A Very Short Introduction|first = Jolyon|last = Mitchell|year = 2012|chapter = Contesting Martyrdom|pages = 42–64|publisher = Oxford University Press|location = Oxford, UK|isbn = 9780199585236|chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=KNTPMAcyriMC&pg=PA57}}{{rp|57}} {{cite news|url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/article626388.ece|url-status = dead|title = The Making of a Suicide Bomber|first = Robert|last = Baer|author-link = Robert Baer|newspaper = The Sunday Times|date = September 3, 2006|archive-date = May 23, 2011|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110523053003/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/article626388.ece}}{{cite web|title = Subject Bibliography: Suicide Bombers|url = https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=702939|date = May 2007|access-date = January 4, 2020|first = Robert J.|last = Bunker|author-link = Robert J. Bunker|publisher = FBI Academy Library, U.S. Department of Justice|location = Quantico, Virginia|url-status = live|website = Homeland Security Digital Library|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170510105717/https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=702939|archive-date = May 10, 2017}} Khomeini declared Fahmideh a national hero, stating that the "value of [Fahmideh's] little heart is greater than could be described by hundreds of tongues and hundreds of pens"{{cite web|title = Put a stop to it – A Memoir in Books|first = Assal|last = Badrkhani|date = October 8, 2003|url = https://iranian.com/2003/10/08/put-a-stop-to-it/|access-date = January 4, 2020|work = The Iranian}} and also calling him "our guide" who "threw himself under the enemy's tank with a grenade and destroyed it, thus drinking the elixir of matyrdom." Khomeini's government went on to provide a knapsack to every school child in Iran that showed "Fahmideh's heroic sacrifice under the tank and the grenades he used to blow himself up," and to include Fahmideh's story alongside that of other martyrs in textbooks intended to improve childhood literacy.{{cite book|last = Davis|first = Joyce|title = Martyrs: Innocence, Vengeance, and Despair in the Middle East|year = 2004|chapter = The Child as Soldier-Matyr: Iran's Mohammad Hosein Fahmideh|publisher = Palgrave Macmillan|isbn = 9781403966810|pages = 45–66|chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=9KzgBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA45}}

= First recipients: 1989 =

The first Order of Fath medals were conferred on September 27, 1989, after the Iran–Iraq War, with three recipients of the award at First Class level:

Alongside them, 21 people received 2nd class medal and 29 people received the 3rd class medal.

= 1990 =

On February 4, 1990, a total of 210 men received the medal. Some of the recipients in the ceremony included:

== Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force ==

== Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution ==

== Both ==

2014

Mohammad Pakpour, Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Ground Forces, 1st grade.

=2016=

Ali Fadavi, commander of Iranian Revolutionary Guards, 1st grade.

=2018=

Habibollah Sayyari, former commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy, 1st grade.

=2021=

Kioumars Heydari, commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army Ground Forces, 1st grade.

=2024=

Abdolrahim Mousavi, Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, 1st grade.

Hossein Salami, Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, 1st grade.

Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the IRGC Aerospace Forces, 1st grade.

= Other famous recipients =

References

{{reflist}}

External links

{{commons cat|Order of Fath}}

{{Orders, decorations, and medals of Iran}}

{{Highest gallantry awards}}

Category:Military awards and decorations of Iran

Category:Awards established in 1989

Category:Islamic awards