This chapter shows that, under the Pahlavi monarchy, the country had one of, if not the, best-equipped and best-trained military in the Middle East and North Africa region. In this chapter, the focus is on how the Imperial Armed Forces changed following the revolution. Attention is drawn to the structure of the Islamic Republic’s military machine and to the historical and strategic forces that have come to determine the shape, doctrine, and capabilities of the country’s armed forces. The impact of the revolution itself on the armed forces was significant, compounded by the role-defining war with Iraq (1980–8). As a consequence of developments since 1979, the Sepah has emerged as the republic’s most powerful fighting force, the establishment’s trusted weapon against domestic dissent, and the regime’s leading weapon in regional conflicts. This centrality is largely attributed to the IRGC Command Network.

Israel is deeply involved in conflict that has both internal and external dimensions. The intensity of the conflict and the appeal of securitization to different spheres – territory, identity, and demography – should further intensify the impact of the conflict. This chapter outlines a perspective on how the conflict shapes the regime. It argues that the conflict has formed the regime differently across varying dimensions and zones of control. The high levels of political contestation are explained by the need to ensure legitimacy and by the PAI’s diminished power of contestation. The lower levels of protection and coverage are also explained by the internal and external aspects of the conflict. The largest shifts in the Israeli regime – the expansion beyond Israel proper after 1967 and the reshaping of the zones of control after the 1990s – can also be explained by security considerations among other explanations.