Who Is Mohammad Ali Jafari, Architect of Mosaic Defence doctrine Behind Iran’s War Strategy?

Who Is Mohammad Ali Jafari, Architect of Mosaic Defence doctrine Behind Iran’s War Strategy?

When the United States and Israel launched an air campaign against Iran under the reported name “Operation Epic Fury,” Donald Trump was believed to have expected a rapid collapse of Iran’s leadership similar to regime changes seen in other conflicts. However, nearly two weeks into the war, Iran’s government has continued to retaliate with strikes across the Middle East despite the loss of several senior commanders.

Analysts say Iran’s ability to keep fighting is largely due to its military doctrine known as the “Mosaic Defence”, a strategy designed to ensure that the country’s war capabilities survive even if top leadership structures are destroyed.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said the doctrine is the result of more than two decades of studying U.S. military campaigns in the region. According to him, the strategy was developed after examining American military operations in neighboring countries and adapting lessons from those conflicts.

Araghchi recently said that strikes on Tehran would not cripple Iran’s war capacity because the decentralised system allows multiple military units to operate independently and continue the fight.

Architect of the Mosaic Defence

The concept was developed by Mohammad Ali Jafari, a former commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Jafari led the IRGC from 2007 to 2019 and spent years restructuring Iran’s military doctrine.

He joined the Revolutionary Guards after the Iranian Revolution and gained combat experience during the Iran–Iraq War. Over time he rose through the ranks, eventually commanding the Guards’ ground forces and leading the elite Sarallah unit before becoming head of the IRGC’s Center for Strategic Studies.

During this period, Jafari began designing a defence strategy that would prevent Iran’s military system from collapsing if its leadership were targeted.

How the Mosaic Defence Works

The Mosaic Defence concept divides Iran’s military structure into multiple semi-independent regional commands instead of relying on a single centralised command chain.

Under this structure, forces from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Basij militia, the regular army, missile units and naval forces operate as part of a distributed network. If one command centre is destroyed, other units continue operating without waiting for orders from the top leadership.

The IRGC itself is organised into 31 provincial commands, each functioning as a largely self-contained military unit with its own intelligence systems, weapons and operational authority. This allows local commanders to act independently if communications with central leadership are cut.

Military analysts say the approach makes it extremely difficult for an enemy to disable Iran’s military capability through a single decisive strike.

Strategic Goals of the Doctrine

Experts say the Mosaic Defence strategy has two main objectives. The first is to ensure that Iran’s command system cannot be easily dismantled through targeted attacks on senior leaders. The second is to make any war against Iran long and complex by turning the country into a layered battlefield involving conventional forces, irregular fighters and local mobilisation.

The doctrine assumes that in a war against stronger powers like the United States or Israel, Iran could lose centralised control. However, regional units would still be able to continue combat operations independently.

The strategy also integrates support from allied groups across the region, often described as the “Axis of Resistance,” which includes organisations such as Hezbollah.

Origins of the Strategy

Iran’s military thinking behind the Mosaic Defence was strongly influenced by events following the United States invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The rapid collapse of Saddam Hussein’s government in Iraq convinced Iranian strategists that a highly centralised military system could be vulnerable to swift defeat. As a result, Tehran chose to restructure its forces into a decentralised network designed to survive leadership losses and prolong any conflict with powerful adversaries.