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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Iran
Index
Troops of the Pasdaran in Qasr-e Shirin
Copyright Lehtikuva/PHOTRI
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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