Iran, along with Egypt and Turkey, is one of the most densely populated countries in the Middle East. Assessing the important strategic position, recognizing the great cultural significance of their country with a thousand-year history, Iranian leaders have always sought to play a leading role in resolving regional and international issues, pursuing a policy of attracting a variety of resources for their country, including, first of all, strong armed forces.
The Iranian army, consisting of ground forces, the Navy and Air Force, and air defense forces, in its modern form, was created 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 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 a modern air force and navy.
His successor, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, continued his father’s policy and longed 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 the Western powers and especially the United States, led to the creation of large and strong armed forces. Washington and Tehran signed treaties for the supply of modern weapons. This unofficial alliance was 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 Dofar, raised by the left-wing separatist organization. During the 1970s, the Imperial Iranian Ground Forces (the army was then called) underwent a rapid transformation and significantly increased their strength.
The 1979 Iranian revolution fundamentally changed strategic dynamics. The new leaders, distrusting the military forces serving the Shah, created the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, which was better funded and equipped than the regular army of Iran.
Immediately after the revolution, a series of purges was carried out, as a result of which the core of highly professional senior officers trained in Western standards was gutted. In 1984, the military governor of Tehran under Pahlavi, General of the Imperial Iranian Army, Golyam Ali Oveissi, was killed in Paris. He was replaced by General Abbas Karabagi, who reformed the military. But they were poorly trained 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 United States, and generally most of the world supported Saddam Hussein, who opposed Iran. In addition, since 1979, the Islamic Republic has been under various economic and diplomatic sanctions by the United States, which greatly affected Tehran’s ability 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 general environment has 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 regimes hostile to Iran were overthrown by international coalitions under the jurisdiction of 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 attention. The heavy US military presence, the threat of attacks on Iran’s nuclear installations by the United States or Israel are the main causes of serious problems that arose not only in the armed forces, but in the entire military and political establishment in Tehran.
However, it should be recognized that Iranian leaders, both before the revolution and after it, were always satisfied with the general configuration of their country, never showed serious interest in the annexation of any foreign territories.
Of course, many years of sanctions have placed a heavy burden on the armed forces and on the whole 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 practically not ready for any serious attacks. It does not have modern armored vehicles, artillery, aircraft, even large warships.