Armed Forces General Staff: Reduction of Military Service Exemption from Eight to Five Years in 2016 is Off the Table

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Iran has emphasized that the issue of reducing the years of absence for conscripts from eight years to five years in order to benefit from the monetary penalty scheme for purchasing military service is completely off the table for the year 1395 (2016). Mousa Kamali, the deputy head of the Human Resources Department of the General Staff, stated on February 13 that 'what is certain is that in 1395 the duration of absence for benefiting from the monetary penalty will not reach five years, and this matter is completely off the table.' He also mentioned that the General Staff has proposed an increase in the penalty amount for purchasing military service, but the exact amount has not yet been finalized. Kamali further stated that those who have previously registered should not expect any 'facilities' as the General Staff has no such intention. The government of Hassan Rouhani had proposed in the budget bill for 1395 that conscripts with more than five years of absence could benefit from the facilities for paying penalties and purchasing military service. Currently, this option is available for those with more than eight years of absence. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Iran had opposed this bill, and Mousa Kamali had previously stated, 'In the meetings we had with the government, we presented two conditions; one is that the penalty amounts should be increased, and the other is that the basis for absence should not only not be reduced but should also be increased to nine years of absence or more.' In a recent interview with ISNA, he raised the possibility that the implementation of the penalty scheme might be halted next year. However, he did not speak with certainty about this and mentioned that due to 'the existence of rumors' regarding the monetary penalty scheme, there has not been much enthusiasm for registering to purchase military service this year.