The Iranian Military Under the Islamic Republic

Abstract

This study assesses the Iranian military forces as a factor in internal Iranian politics. It examines successive influences on the Iranian armed forces since the Islamic Revolution of February 1979. The analysis includes both the professional military and the new paramilitary organizations, the Pasdaran and the Basij. The findings of the study are based primarily on interviews with former Iranian military personnel living outside Iran who have seen service since the revolution, and with nonmilitary individuals. The interview data were supplemented by an analysis of open-source literature in local and Western languages. The findings suggest that the long-term U.S. policy objective ought to be to reestablish a working relationship with Iran and to prevent it or any part of it from coming under Soviet influence. A directory of Iranian military officials and a chronology of events in Iran since 1979 are included in appendixes.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 1987
Accession Number
ADA179199

Entities

People

  • Gina Barkhordarian
  • Nikola B. Schahgaldian

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Employment
  • Ethnic Groups
  • Families (Human)
  • Governments
  • Military Organizations
  • Military Science
  • Military Transfers
  • Minority Groups
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Organizational Structure
  • Personnel Management
  • Political Systems
  • Recreation
  • Students
  • Terrorists
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Library and Information Science
  • Nuclear Non-Proliferation and International Security
  • Political Violence and Terrorism Studies.