Qasem-Ali Zahirnejad

Timsar Qasem-Ali Zahirnejad
Qasem-Ali Zahirnejad
Born	1924 Ardabil, Iran
Died	21 October 1999 Tehran, Iran
Allegiance	Iran
Service/branch	Ground Force (1951−1976) Ground Force (1979−1981) Gendarmerie (1980) Joint Staff (1981−1989)
Years of service	1951–1976 1979–1989
Rank	Major general
Battles/wars	Kurdish rebellion Iran-Iraq War
Awards	Order of Nasr

Qasem-Ali Zahir Nejad (1924 – 21 October 1999) was a major general in the Army of Iran after the 1979 revolution.

Zahirnejad began studies in the Military University (Imam Ali) in 1951. He retired from the army in 1973 as a lieutenant colonel. After the 1979 revolution he returned to the army at the beginning of the unrest in Kurdistan and in 1979 as commander of Division 64 of Urmia. In 1980 he was named as a brigadier general to command the whole country's Gendarmerie and Army and on 9 October 1981 was named President of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

During the Iran-Iraq war, his insistent implementation of classic combat commanders led to clashes with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, a unit which relies on the use of numerous small forces of infantry and armored equipment. He achieved the rank of major general on 6 November 1989. In 1999 he died of stroke.