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Iran
SPECIAL AND IRREGULAR ARMED FORCES
A primacy of state interest over revolutionary ideology was reflected
in the Khomeini regime's treatment of the military. Reports to
the contrary notwithstanding, the Khomeini regime never eliminated
imperial Iran's regular armed forces. Certainly, key military
personnel identified with the deposed shah were arrested, tried,
and executed. But the purges were limited to high-profile military
and political figures and had a clear purpose: to eliminate Pahlavi
loyalists. As a means of countering the threat posed by either
the leftist guerrillas or the officers suspected of continued
loyalty to the shah, however, Khomeini created the Pasdaran, designated
as the guardians of the Revolution. The Constitution of the new
republic entrusts the defense of Iran's territorial integrity
and political independence to the military, while it gives the
Pasdaran the responsibility of preserving the Revolution itself.
Days after Khomeini's return to Tehran, the Bazargan interim
administration established the Pasdaran under a decree issued
by Khomeini on May 5, 1979. The Pasdaran was intended to protect
the Revolution and to assist the ruling clerics in the day-to-day
enforcement of the new government's Islamic codes and morality.
There were other, perhaps more important, reasons for establishing
the Pasdaran. The Revolution needed to rely on a force of its
own rather than borrowing the previous regime's tainted units.
As one of the first revolutionary institutions, the Pasdaran helped
legitimize the Revolution and gave the new regime an armed basis
of support. Moreover, the establishment of the Pasdaran served
notice to both the population and the regular armed forces that
the Khomeini regime was quickly developing its own enforcement
body. Thus, the Pasdaran, along with its political counterpart,
Crusade for Reconstruction, brought a new order to Iran. In time,
the Pasdaran would rival the police and the judiciary in terms
of its functions. It would even challenge the performance of the
regular armed forces on the battlefield.
Since 1979 the Pasdaran has undergone fundamental changes in
mission and function. Some of these changes reflected the control
of the IRP (until its abolition in 1987) over both the Pasdaran
and the Crusade for Reconstruction. Others reflected the IRP's
exclusive reliance on the Pasdaran to carry out certain sensitive
missions. Still others reflected personal ambitions of Pasdaran
leaders. The Pasdaran, with its own separate ministry, has evolved
into one of the most powerful organizations in Iran. Not only
did it function as an intelligence organization, both within and
outside the country, but it also exerted considerable influence
on government policies. In addition to its initial political strength,
in the course of several years the Pasdaran also became a powerful
military instrument for defending the Revolution and Islamic Iran.
Data as of December 1987
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