Jahad-e Sazandegi Headquarters for the Reconstruction and Renovation of War-Affected Areas was one of the units subordinate to the High Council for the Reconstruction and Renovation of War-Affected Areas, and was responsible for reconstructing war-affected rural areas.

In the imposed war, cities, villages, and border provinces suffered extensive damage; 87 cities (69 war-affected cities and 18 cities) were bombed, and 2,676 villages sustained widespread damage. The scale of the damage caused by the imposed war, which was initially estimated at US$1,000 billion, was so extensive that the United Nations delegation described it as a “ real and unimaginable tragedy. ” The destruction occurred along 1,200 kilometers of the common border with Iraq, extending up to 80 kilometers into Iranian territory, and resulted in the destruction and devastation of all urban and rural facilities and infrastructure and service facilities, factories, farms, and date palm groves in the cities and villages.⁠[1]

Following the successful operations of the combatants in the southern areas (Operation Tariq al-Quds, Operation Fath al-Mubin, and Operation Beit al-Moqaddas), a large part of Iranian territory was liberated from the Ba' athist forces. Consequently, most of the cities and villages in the southern regions of the country were removed from Iraq' s direct line of fire, and the people who had left their cities in the early stages of the imposed war returned to their places of residence.⁠[2]

Since the urban and rural infrastructure of the liberated areas had been completely damaged, and both short-term and long-term measures were required for the return of city and village residents, at its meeting of 22 May 1982 (2 Khordad 1361), the Cabinet approved the “ Method and Executive Organization for the Reconstruction and Renovation of War-Affected Areas. ”⁠[3] Under this resolution, the High Council for the Reconstruction and Renovation of War-Affected Areas was established under the chairmanship of the Minister of Interior, with the participation of members of the Central Council of Jahad-e Sazandegi; the Ministers of Housing and Urban Development, Roads and Transportation, Energy, Industries, Petroleum, Defense, Agriculture, Commerce, and Interior; as well as the Plan and Budget Organization, the deputy for banking affairs of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the deputy for reconstruction and return affairs of the Foundation for War Migrants, and a fully authorized representative of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.⁠[4]

Subsequently, based on Jahad-e Sazandegi' s experience in rural development, the reconstruction of war-affected urban areas was assigned to government ministries, while the reconstruction of war-affected rural areas was assigned to Jahad-e Sazandegi.⁠[5]

Jahad-e Sazandegi of Khorasan Province undertook the reconstruction of the Dasht-e Azadegan area; Jahad-e Sazandegi of Kerman Province, 30 villages on the right side of the Susangerd– Bostan road; Jahad-e Sazandegi of Markazi Province, 30 villages in the Hoveyzeh area; Jahad-e Sazandegi of Fars Province, 130 villages in the war zones of Abadan Island and north of Abadan, east of the Karun River up to Darkhovin; Jahad-e Sazandegi of Semnan Province, villages west of the Karun River; Jahad-e Sazandegi of Isfahan Province, approximately 220 villages in the southeastern, western, and southern areas of Ahvaz and 44 villages on Minou Island; Jahad-e Sazandegi of Tehran Province, villages west of the Karkheh River; Jahad-e Sazandegi of Qom, villages east of the Karun River; Jahad-e Sazandegi of Mazandaran Province, the Beit Shaye' area and 8 villages in the Khorrasan area; Jahad-e Sazandegi of Lorestan Province, 10 villages in the Chah Sheikh-Nouruz area; Jahad-e Sazandegi of Yazd Province, the Seyyed Khadish area; Jahad-e Sazandegi of Zanjan Province, the Changuleh area; Jahad-e Sazandegi of Hamadan Province, the Sarpol-e Zahab area and 30 villages in the Qaleh-Shahin area; Jahad-e Sazandegi of Qazvin Province, the Dasht-e Zahab area and 11 villages in the Bashiveh area; Jahad-e Sazandegi of Golestan Province, 32 villages in the Deyreh area; Jahad-e Sazandegi of Gilan Province, 50 villages in the Gilan-e Gharb area; and Jahad-e Sazandegi of Gonbad, 19 villages in the Somar and Naft-Shahr areas.⁠[6]

All reconstruction headquarters stationed in the villages of Khuzestan were under the coverage of a central headquarters in Ahvaz and were coordinated through this headquarters with other headquarters, the Housing Foundation, and others. A joint technical office of Jahad and the Housing Foundation was also established, and affairs related to the renovation of villages were followed up through this office; after maps and plans were prepared, they were approved at the provincial headquarters and referred to the relevant Jahads.⁠[7]

After the headquarters were established and preliminary work was completed, workshops were built and personnel recruited, and short-term activities in the field of cultivating the land and so forth began. In some villages, motor pumps were even repaired and installed, and agricultural land was cleared and leveled.⁠[8]

Clearing the remaining trenches in rural areas and handing military equipment over to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, distributing essential food and industrial supplies, establishing cooperatives, repairing and constructing roads, reconstructing residential and public areas in cooperation with the Islamic Revolution Housing Foundation, water-supply services, electricity services, medical and veterinary services, agricultural services, cultural and educational services, and establishing workshops and industrial factories⁠[9] were among the other measures undertaken by Jahad-e Sazandegi in the reconstruction and renovation of war-affected rural areas, carried out through agricultural, veterinary, development, health and medical, technical, educational, and cultural committees.⁠[10]

Instead of “ reconstruction, ” Jahad-e Sazandegi adopted an approach of “ renovation” of the war-affected areas so that, by improving rural infrastructure and taking cultural and geographical requirements into account, it could provide better living conditions for village residents.⁠[11]

Annual seminars were also held to evaluate the performance of the various committees of the reconstruction headquarters and, when necessary, to revise the headquarters' policies concerning reconstruction; they also provided for the scientific review and assessment of the headquarters' performance.⁠[12]

On 1 June 1997 (11 Khordad 1376), the Cabinet, by approving the resolution entitled “ Transfer of the Duties of the Central Headquarters for the Reconstruction of War-Affected Areas and the Reconstruction Headquarters and Affairs of the Return of War-Affected Areas, Respectively, to the Executive Deputyship of the Presidency and the Provincial Governorates, ” brought the activities of the Jahad-e Sazandegi Headquarters for the Reconstruction of War-Affected Areas to an end.⁠[13]