The Iranian Army: History and Modernity

Iran, along with Egypt and Turkey, is one of the most densely populated countries in the Middle East. Assessing the important strategic position, aware of the enormous cultural significance of its country, which has a thousand-year history, the Iranian leaders have always sought to play a leading role in solving regional and international issues, pursuing a policy of attracting diverse resources for their country, among them, above all, strong armed forces.

The Iranian army, consisting of ground forces, the Navy and the Air Force, and air defense forces, in its modern form was established in the mid-1920s, during the reign of the Pahlavi dynasty. Reza Shah Pahlavi wanted to make Iran a regional power, for which, naturally, an advanced army was needed. He sent thousands of officers to study at the military academies abroad, and also hired foreign military personnel to train soldiers and officers in Iran itself. Thanks to his efforts, a solid foundation was laid for the creation of modern Air Force and Navy.

His successor, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, continued his father's policy and was eager to make his country the most powerful military power in the Middle East and South Asia. This strategy, which was based on close cooperation with Western powers and especially the United States, led to the creation of large and strong armed forces. Between Washington and Tehran, agreements were signed for the supply of modern weapons. This unofficial alliance proved decisive in containing Soviet influence in the region.

The Iranian army also played an important role in supporting the Sultan of Oman during the uprising in Dhofar raised by the left-wing radical separatist organization. During the 1970s, the Imperial Iranian land forces (so called the army) underwent a rapid transformation and significantly increased their strength.

The Iranian revolution of 1979 changed the strategic dynamics in principle. The new leaders, not trusting the armed forces serving the Shah, created the Guard Corps of the Islamic Revolution, which was better funded and equipped than the regular army of Iran.

Immediately after the revolution, a series of cleanings was carried out, as a result of which the core of highly professional senior officers, trained according to Western models, was disembowelled. In 1984, the military governor of Tehran under Pahlavi, General of the Imperial Iranian Army Golam-Ali Oveissi was killed in Paris. He was replaced by General Abbas Karabaghi, who reformed the armed forces. But they were ill-prepared when Iraq invaded Iran.

The army was involved in the eight-year war with Iraq (from 1980 to 1988), in which conservative Arab countries, the US, and in general much of the world supported Saddam Hussein, who opposed Iran. In addition, since 1979, the Islamic Republic has been under various economic and diplomatic sanctions from the US, which strongly affected the ability of Tehran to import weapons from Western countries. Iran began to import weapons from the USSR, China and North Korea, and began to develop its own military industry.

But the most important thing was that the overall environment had changed significantly. For many years, the Iranian army had the main goal - protection from actual and potential enemies (Saddam Hussein in Iraq, the Taliban in Afghanistan). But these two regime hostile to Iran were overthrown by international coalitions subordinated to the United States. Tehran remained surrounded by the United States and Israel, not being able to know about their true intentions and being under constant sight. The heavy American military presence, the threat of attacks on Iran's nuclear installations by the US or Israel are the main causes of serious problems that have arisen not only in the armed forces, but throughout the military and political establishment in Tehran.

However, it should be recognized that the Iranian leaders, both before and after the revolution, have always been satisfied with the general configuration of their country, never showed a serious interest in the annexation of any foreign territories.

Undoubtedly, long-term sanctions have imposed a heavy burden on the armed forces and the entire country as a whole. Despite the fact that the Iranian army of 2012-2013 is one of the largest in the Middle East, it is poorly equipped and almost unprepared for any serious attacks. It does not have modern armored vehicles, artillery, aviation, even large warships.