Iran's Exceptional Approach in its Defence Industry Strategy: Armenia in the Context of the Second Karabakh War

Iran's defence industry strategy is based on a synthesis of functions aimed at countering objective threats, projecting a deterrent image and fostering political and military rapprochement with other countries. The defence institutions established under the Shah prior to the Islamic Revolution, with the goal of becoming a ‘regional leader,’ remained effective after the revolution. The Iran-Iraq War that followed the 1979 Revolution was the most important process shaping Iran's defence strategy. During this period, divisions and purges within the military structure led to institutional weaknesses and technological deficiencies. The narrative of success necessary for post-revolutionary consolidation, geopolitical realities (threats from Iraq, Gulf countries, Saudi Arabia, and Israel), the motivation for ‘self-sufficiency’ that developed as a result of the arms embargoes imposed on Iran, and the search for new alliances shaped Iran's defence doctrine. Starting in the second half of the 1980s, Iran established defence relations with Russia, North Korea, Libya, Ukraine, Belarus, and China, achieving significant developments in air power and missile technology. With the 2011 Syrian crisis, UAV and UCAV technologies and ballistic missile programmes accelerated. Iran's defence industry strategy is based on the motivation to build its own deterrence capacity and to support and equip its proxy forces, and 2020 has been a transformative year in this context. The Second Karabakh War this year has led Iran to adopt an exceptional approach beyond the aforementioned motivations.