They Were Expendable

Abstract

This chapter discusses the Iran-Iraq War and its implications for Iran’s security thinking and military affairs. It posits that the country’s experience with the wars it fought in the Qajar era shaped its thinking as pertaining to this conflict and that the Iran-Iraq War in turn has drawn the contours of much of Iran’s security thinking since then. The chapter also assesses how the war led to the Islamic Republic following in on the Shah’s footsteps and resuming and accelerating many key programs and projects started decades prior.