He succeeded Fazael Tadayon in the post. When he was in command, there were forty-eight thousand men in the air force.Barry Rubin, a veteran Middle East expert, described him as possibly “the most able officer in the top circles of the armed forces.”In August 1978, Rabii indirectly urged Moshe Dayan, the foreign minister of Israel, to meet the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and to tell him the increasing tension in Homeland. Rabii complained that the Shah had been ignoring his and others’ remarks. The visit was paid by Dayan in the following days.
In the military cabinet formed by Gholam Reza Azhari Rabii served as an acting minister of housing briefly from November to December 1978. However, Hassan Toufanian, deputy defense minister, and Rabii did not cooperate with Azhari arguing that the prime minister had assigned mostly army officers as cabinet members.
