Since the establishment of the first law on the public duty system in 1304 (1925), which was passed under the title “Compulsory Service Law”, almost one hundred years have passed. During this century, various laws (before and after the 1979 revolution) have been passed regarding military service, in line with social changes and the country’s needs and also due to events such as war. Currently, the “Public Duty Service Law” passed in 1363 (1984) – which has undergone specific amendments in the past years and was also reviewed in 2011 – is considered the standard for public duty service. Regardless of the advantages and disadvantages of mandatory military service in Iran – which requires a separate and extensive analysis – the duration of this compulsory service is one of the main concerns and challenges of this public duty. According to Article 4 of the Public Duty Service Law: “The duration of public duty service is 30 years and its stages for all eligible individuals are

A- The duration of service for this essential course is 24 months, and if the participants are more or less than the required number, the General Headquarters, with permission from the Commander-in-Chief, can change it to a shorter or longer period than the essential course.

B- Eight years of precautionary period.

The first 10-year storage period.

D- Second reserve period of 10 years.

Note 1 – The start and end date of service in precautionary and reserve stages will be calculated from the end date of the necessary period, and in any case, the end date will not exceed the age of 50.

Clause 2 – In times of necessity and general mobilization, individuals covered by this law may be summoned up to the age of sixty.

What is most important and concerning for the recruits and their loved ones is the duration of the mandatory service period, which can be more or less than 24 months according to the decision made by the General Staff of the Armed Forces, as stated in Article 4 of this law. The decision regarding the duration of the service period has been delegated to the General Staff, with the approval of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. Recently, based on the announcement made by the head of the Public Duty Organization, the duration of the mandatory service period has been reduced to three months, according to the decision made by the General Staff of the Armed Forces. However, the duration of the service period varies depending on the location of service. For example, the duration of the service period for individuals serving in normal areas is 21 months (three months less than the duration stated in the law), for non-native soldiers (based on the distance of more than 200 kilometers from their place of residence),

Regardless of the existence of certain ambiguities (such as the calculation of the length of service for non-native soldiers serving in operational, deprived, or harsh climate areas), the legal basis for determining such criteria by the General Staff of the Armed Forces is not clear. In other words, the authority granted to the General Staff of the Armed Forces in Article 4 of the National Service Law is only related to reducing or increasing the length of service for all conscripts, and determining the length of service based on the place of service (even if it has been done to create justice and equality among conscripts) is beyond the scope of this legal article and requires clarification from the legislator. In fact, the shortcomings and inadequacies of the National Service Law in determining criteria for reducing the length of service for conscripts cannot be resolved or addressed by decisions of institutions and bodies such as the General Staff of the Armed Forces.

It seems that if, based on the continuation of public service duty and the current quality, there is no plan to change the mandatory nature of military service, it is better for the legislator to establish criteria for determining the duration of the mandatory service period through amending the law on public service duty. This way, the General Staff of the Armed Forces will have the authority to determine the duration of the mandatory service period within the framework of these legal criteria. Otherwise, the current ambiguous and unfair situation, which is not even based on the legislator’s decision, will continue, leading to instability and uncertainty in the important field of public service duty – which is a concern and issue for a large portion of society.