Air Force s Role in Islamic Revolution

In the unveiling ceremony of the Role of the Air Force in the Islamic Revolution, head of the Islamic Revolution documents center said that the obedience of the air force to Imam Khomeini was memorable and unexpected for the Shah's regime.

IBNA: A ceremony was held on Wednesday February 8, 2012 to unveil Majid Rajabi's Oral History of the Role of the Air Force in the Islamic Revolution in the presence of air force commanders and a number of revolution literati at Nehaja's hotel.

In his speech, Rohollah Husseinian, head of the Islamic Revolution Documents Center, said Shah expanded the army to salvage his throne from foreigners' interests especially of the US and used it as a means to fulfill his intentions.

In 1969, British forces left Persian Gulf due to unsuitable economic conditions and Kissinger proposed the Nixon Doctrine," he explained in his speech. "Expansion of the navy was not efficient for the US and they decided to strengthen the local forces instead.

He went on to name some of the opportunistic actions by the US in the armed forces of Iran and Saudi Arabia saying that one of the discovered documents, as mentioned in Asadolah Alam's memoir, indicates that Nixon had asked Shah for the purchase of 50 F5 aircrafts from the US to keep revolutionary moves down in 1972; after 12 minutes after the request, Shah had agreed to purchase the aircrafts. "This issue has been mentioned in the book of Imam Khomeini's follower students.

He further underlined the impact of the Islamic Revolution on the army's dignity and said the allegiance of the air force with Imam Khomeini was a memorable service because the regime never expected to receive such a hit from what it once considered as the best place to lean on.

"The strike of 2,800 army men in Hamedan and joining to thousands of others to them in Dezful, Shiraz and Mehrabad surprised all military commanders," he is quoted as saying.

It was unintelligible for Americans to see that most of the military joined Imam Khomeini's campaign even after being graduated from the US. They maintained their allegiance until the Sacred Defense and caused the victory of Iranian forces against the enemy," he added.

At the end of the ceremony, the Oral History of the Role of Air Force in the Islamic Revolution was unveiled in the presence of Rohollah Husseinian, Hojataleslam Mohammad Reza Vahedi, cultural and public relations deputy of the army, Majid Najafipour, the book's compiler, and Hojataleslam Abbas Mohammad Hassani, head of the politics-beliefs administration of the army.

The book is published by the documents center of the Islamic Revolution.