ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the major causes of the demise of the Imperial Armed Forces and their replacement by new “Islamicized” regular and paramilitary forces. It examines the functions of the Islamic Armed Forces within the broader framework of the Islamic Republic’s domestic and foreign postures. The chapter focuses on the Iranian military and its metamorphosis since 1979. Iran’s military performance in Oman was to be the ultimate vindication of the surrogate strategy in Southwest Asia, despite the limited and questionable success of that performance. Leftist military personnel staged a massive demonstration in front of Ayatollah Khomeini’s Tehran headquarters a week after the downfall of the Imperial Armed Forces demanding the total disbandment of the Shah’s military forces and their replacement by a “national revolutionary army.” The Revolutionary Guard’s countervailing influence serves as a constant check on the military’s ambitions.
