ABSTRACT
I was right in the past. Think what the Iraqis could do today with their torpedo boats in the Persian Gulf if we did not have the power to retaliate.
(Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, June 1969)
Another policy area which underwent a major transformation in the Second Republic is security and defence. The policy changes in this field have encompassed the republic’s military structures as well as a review of the country’s rearmament strategy and the development of its defence industries. The previous chapter discussed the issue of Iran’s rearmament drive within the context of the Second Republic’s security environment and foreign policy objectives. This chapter, by contrast, will deal with the mechanisms through which these ambitions of the Second Republic leaders may be realised. In addition it builds on the discussion in previous chapters to show what, if any, might be the impact of the regional arms race and other regional realities on the security strategy of the Second Republic.
