The Imperial Army had a special place in the Pahlavi regime. Reza Shah and his son Mohammad Reza Shah, with great hopes that the army would preserve Iran’s territorial integrity, spent the largest part of the country’s budget on equipping the army. Purchasing advanced weapons from Western countries, especially the United States, increasing the number of army personnel, and allocating excellent salaries and benefits to senior military personnel were among Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s actions in this regard. With oil revenues, he increased the army from 120,000 to 410,000, and also increased the army’s budget from $60 million in 1954 to $7.3 billion in 1977.
Mohammad Reza Shah had a great interest in military matters; He also conducted some government affairs in military uniform, and in an interview with a foreign researcher he referred to himself as “the army” (a reference to the famous phrase of King Louis XIV of France: “The state is me!”). Arms dealers joked that the Shah was as engrossed in military catalogs as other men were in the erotic magazine Playboy. Of course, these interests were not limited to military purchases—the Shah had a keen interest in military training, exercises, and the welfare of his soldiers. Members of the imperial army enjoyed large salaries, comfortable homes, frequent foreign trips, and other privileges.