During the rule of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Iranian military and law enforcement were equipped with a variety of submachine guns of Western and Eastern origins. Some were locally produced while others were imported in limited numbers. The main Persian word to describe a submachine gun is mosalsal (مسلسل in the Persian alphabet) which loosely means a ‘small arm that shoots continuously’. Here we will take a close look at examples of submachine guns that were imported or produced locally by the Iranian government during the rule of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi between 1941 to 1979 based on the existing information and photographic evidence. Also included in this article is a podcast interview with the piece’s author Yousef Riazi.
PPSh-41
Origins: Darra’s PPSh-41 Franken-Builds
There have been a few images circulating on social media depicting several PPSh-41-patterned submachine guns modified with blasphemous ‘tacticool’ configurations. Locally, these submachine guns are called the ‘Papusha‘ and are chambered in the same 7.62×25mm pistol cartridge as the original guns. The 7.62×25mm round is locally known as .30 bore. Almost all of these images can be traced back to Pakistan, specifically Darra Adamkhel, where dealers have them displayed in their shopfronts and also on their social media pages.
Gun Market Trends in Iraq, Syria’s Idlib and Afrin and Yemen: mid January Browning M1919A4 and Iranian MP5
Welcome to the second instalment of our series examining gun market trends across the MENA region. At the moment we are focusing on Iraq, Idlib and Afrin and Yemen. The time-frame of the data in this article runs from 13th January to 24th January 2020. The prices are average and are rounded up or down (for example 126=150, 124=100). If you missed our first instalment you can find it here.