Iran at War: From Cyrus to Soleimani

Abstract Iran’s armed forces have made tremendous strides since the decade‐long war with Iraq in 1980s. Tehran’s cultivation of ideologically sympathetic forces, along provision material help, has allowed Iran to project power and influence throughout Middle East. Some policy analysts who study military development are biased lack cultural understanding, contending that republic is driven by unchanging customs, beliefs, norms reach back ancient times. The work scholars often makes up for this deficiency, though makers tend be uninterested evidence does not support prevailing narrative about “malign” nature behavior. This article, which condenses my forthcoming book, takes no partisan position, laying out an interdisciplinary analysis Iranian case straddles history, strategic studies, historical sociology. It assesses concept way war, then applies it traces its evolution from Achaemenid dynasty Pahlavis.