Rabii instructed his men not to kill anyone on the other side. When Prime Minister Bakhtiar ordered him to bomb the arms factory in central Tehran, he refused to carry out this order. Rabii did not support the revolution, but a significant portion of the air force cadets and young skilled military technical personnel did.Ayatollah Khomeini asked Rabii to submit his resignation at his residence, and he submitted it there.Saeid Mahdioun replaced Rabii as commander of the air force.
Rabii married a German woman, Gerda, and had two sons, Arian and Arman.Rabii had a good command of English. In an intelligence report by the USA Defense Department dated 13 February 1975 Rabii was described as a warm, open and humorous Muslim, but not a strict religious person. He was also regarded in the same report as a very handsome and well-educated military official who was much ahead of his colleagues.Rabii was arrested in February 1979 along with Tehran martial law governor Mehdi Rahimi, air force general Ayat Mahaghghi (Mohagheghi) and Isfahan martial law governor Reza Naji, and they were all taken to Alawi school in Capital.
