Rezazadeh in defending his super-heavyweight Olympic 1- Self-sacrifice in the way of the sacred objectives weightlifting gold medal at the Sydney Olympic Games of the Islamic System in August 2004 and bettering his own world record in the 2- Suffering financial loss in providing vital and clean and jerk, he had a branch of the Iran State Bank necessary services. named in his honour and he was awarded by President 3- Continual exercise of social charity works, founding Khatami, the "Badge of Courage" (Reference I). of charitable institutes, and the establishment of scientific, research, and educational institutes. The Order of Education is awarded to individuals who display merit in the following areas, in order to emphasize the importance of acquiring science and on the importance of Islamic education in the society: 1- Development and transfer of science, knowledge, and technology. 2- Planning and implementing innovative and successful methods in education. 3- Successful and considerable effort in having students adopt Islamic manners and social Figure 23: President Ahmadinejad presents the morals. Medal of Bravery to Abolqasem Amangah. The Order of Culture and Art is awarded to individuals More recently President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who allocate their thought, taste, and emotions to the presented the Medal of Bravery (Order of Courage?) to transfer of Islamic values and the propagation of culture Iranian Border Guards commander AbolqasemAmangah as follows: (Figure 23) (References J and K). This award (Figure 24) was in recognition of his role in "arresting" 15 British 1- Propagation of Islamic culture and the removal of marines and sailors whom Iran had charged had entered the decadent foreign cultures from society. Iranian waters illegally (but Britain maintained were in 2- Promotion of the theoretical and rational Iraqi territorial waters at the time of their seizure). fundamentals of religious knowledge. 3- Promotion of national traditions and reviving valuable social traditions. 4- Creativity and provision of valuable literary and artistic work 5- Paying special attention to the cultural, artistic, and literary heritage of the nation, so that it becomes effective in the reviving, keeping, and applying them 6- Introduction, description, explanation, criticism and provision of artistic or literary field at an international level. 7- Innovation of a new method in an artistic and literary field. On November 26, 2005, the pioneer figure of Iranian graphic arts, Morteza Momayez, died at the age of 69. The obituary notes he was teacher at the Faculty of Fine Arts of Tehran University from 1969 and Chairman of the Iranian Graphic Designers Society from 1988 to 2004, and that in 2004 he received the top medal of art from Iran’s then President Khatami. Momayez and was also selected as one of Iran’s Lasting Figures, Figure 24: The Medal for BravesT. being a government proj ect to recognize the outstanding scholars of Iran in scientific, cultural, and artistic fields The Order of Sacrifice is awarded to those who (Reference L). distinguished themselves as follows: Vol. 59, No. 3 23 The Order of Kindness is awarded to women, in addition Engineer Javad Karimi - for supervising, planning, to other orders, in appreciation of the rank and esteem of building, installing, and operating the equipment in the women in the nation. The order is bestowed upon women enrichment process in the Natanz pilot, and for his activ- who contribute valuably as follows: ity regarding the new generation of centrifuges. Engineer Hamid-Reza Mohajerani - for production 1- Active participation in social, economic, and management of UCF products and for his role in plan- political affairs. ning, building and installing the UF6 unit. 2- Acting as the symbol of the Muslim woman in the society and endeavors in the promotion of its Order of Merit and Management, 2nd Class social and ideological fundamentals. 3- Practical symbol of the example mother or wife. Dr. Jaber Safdari for his planning and management of the AUC production process in Esfahan, and his The Order of Persian Literature is awarded to individuals successful and effective management of the Kashan who have considerable qualities or efforts as follows: enrichment facilities. 1- Creation of literary works - whether prose or Engineer Solatsana - for operating the UCF project in poetry. Esfahan, and for supervising the teams planning the 2- Reviving Iranian literary sources through analysis UF6 production process. or presentation. 3- Introduction of literary scholars and lecturers of Engineer Ja’far Mohammadi - for his notable manage- the past to increases the capacity of the Persian ment of the building of centrifuge taps, and other sensi- language and literature. tive and complex components. 4- Providing the preliminaries of the familiarity of the people of the world with Persian language and Order of Merit and Management, 3rd Class literature Engineer Ali Hajinia Leilbadi - for proving he was wor- Chapter 2 deals with the Commission for the verification thy of operating the first heavy-water facilities. of awards and Chapter 3 attends to the Office for the Grant Engineer Abbas Rashidi - for his management and of State Orders and its Duties. notable role in the successful operation of the chain of 164 centrifuges for uranium enrichment. On August 27, 2006 a series of awards were bestowed by President Ahemedinejad at a ceremony to "grant the Engineer Mohammad Fedai Ashiani - for his role in the government medals to the select individuals in the realm AUC production process, and for his management and of our country’s nuclear technology, and to grant medals engineering design of the Kashan site. to some of the elite in nuclear technology for peaceful purposes" (Reference K). The individuals so honored Engineer Amir Moayyed Alai - for managing the assem- are as follows: bly and engineering of the centrifuges and for operating the chain of 164 centrifuges for uranium enrichment. Order of Service, 1st Class Engineer Houshang Nobari - for his successful manage- ment and execution of the Kashan site plan. Engineer Reza Aghazadeh, Vice-President of the Re- public and head of the Atomic Energy Organization Engineer Morteza Behzad - for making complex and of Iran. sensitive centrifuge components. Order of Research, 2nd Class Order of Honour Dr. Mohammad Ghannadi Maragheh - the research and A young (unnamed) female Iranian scientist in nuclear technology deputy in the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and head of the Academy for Nuclear Sciences. energy for peaceful purposes. Order of Research, 3rd Class In November 2004 it was announced that Iran was to honor the former President of South Africa with an Engineer Haleh Bakhtiar - for producing magnesium award during a proposed visit to Tehran. Apparently the at a concentration of 99.9%, and for other notable decision to make this award "a special medal" followed research studies. remarks made by Nelson Mandeta during the trial of Jewish defendants accused of espionage for Israel and 2 4 JOMSA his "transparent stance" on the court hearing (Reference Postscript M). The only reference I have been able to find concerning an Finally, I have been forwarded by an Iranian colleague, a award relating to the late Ayatollah Khomeni is an eight- number of Iranian police medal ribbon bars (Figure 25). pointed base metal star (Figure 26) bearing an effigy of Unfortunately, as of writing I have been unable to obtain the Ayatollah. To date I have been unable to ascertain the further information concerning these awards, however I status of this medal as either an official award or merely am pleased to illustrate these below. a commemorative token. My thanks to Ahmed Darvishvand, Vicken Koundakjian, Muhammad Younus and Ghulam Teli. Thank you also to Gentlemen’s Military Interest Club (www.gmic. co.uk) contributors: Dave Danner, Ed Haynes, Lukasz Gaszewski, and Jeff McCulloch. Bibliography Official Gazette References Issue No. 13327 dated Dec. 02, 1990, No. H335T/12334, November 21,1990, and subsequently amended by: ¯ No.: H353T/55896, October 27, 1991. ¯ No.: H105T/12873, June 6, 1992. ¯ No.: H201T/37279, August 16, 1993. ¯ No.: H231T/38518, September 13, 1994. ¯ No.: H19161T/77859, February 8, 1998. ¯ No.: H20238T/48105, October 14, 1998. Worldwide Web References A www.iran-3-azad.com B www.islam-pure.de C/G www/iran.com D Fars News Agency, September 18, 2006. Figure 25: Three Iranian police ribbon bars. E www/metimes.com F www.maadiran.com H www.daily.times, com.pk In concluding it is evident from the above research that I www.dailytimes.com the Islamic Republic of Iran has a well developed series J www.iranfocus.com of awards both civil, military and police. It is hoped that K www/memritv.org this introductory article will at least provide a basis from L/M www.iranian.ws www.iranica.com which further research can be pursued. www.taeniae-mundi.dez www/fotw.net www.medals.lava.pl www.iranmilitaryforum.com www.en.wikipedia.org LESS THAN TWO MONTHS TO THE 2008 OMSA CONVENTION REGISTER NOW!! Figure 26: Base-metal star bearing the effigy of SEE YOU IN JACKSONVILLE Ayatollah Khomeni. Vol. 59, No. 3 25 .