10 - The Holy Defense Continues

Summary

Chapter 10 examines some of the most important ways the Iran-Iraq War and its history impact the IRGC and the Islamic Republic today. These include efforts to derive political and strategic lessons from the conflict and how Iran’s experience in the war gave rise to a security doctrine that seeks above all to establish effective deterrence and ensure Iran’s independence, in part by integrating Iran into the wider region and utilizing asymmetric and soft power. Running through these and many other aspects of the war’s ongoing significance is the conception that the conflict has not ended, and therefore that the Holy Defense continues. Additionally, the chapter puts the IRGC’s published histories in the broader context of the IRGC, of Iran’s ruling establishment, and of how the war’s legacies and lessons shape Iranian policy.