If the Islamic Republic of Iran has learnt anything from the Iran-Iraq War, it was the need to become totally self-sufficient in all forms of military development. During that war, with a radicalized Iran, it found itself standing alone against Saddam Hussein’s well-equipped military forces. In a region where most of Iran’s nearest neighbors were Sunni Arabs and Turks, all of whom were disturbed by the radical doctrine spewing from Khomeini in those heady days following the Iranian revolution, the fear was that such rhetoric could stir up Shiite militancy in neighboring Arab states, eventually turning into civil unrest, and the overthrow of existing governments.

ANALYSIS: The end-times apocalyptic vision of Iran’s IRGC