The Return of Iran: Iranian nationalist rhetoric during the Iran-Iraq War

Most studies of the attitude of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its preferred method of mobilisation during the Iran-Iraq War have focused correctly on the prominent rôle of Islamic themes. However, this paper argues that, over the course of this war—the longest conventional war of the Twentieth Century—Iran’s leaders turned often to nationalist themes, as well, in an effort to counter Iraqi propaganda and to encourage the population, often with greater success. This ‘resurrection’ of the nationalist identity cultivated by the pre-revolutionary Pahlavi régime reflects a limited acknowledgement of the level to which Iranian national consciousness was accepted and perceived by the populace as authentic. Moreover, the use of secular nationalist discourse also foreshadows the later decisions by the revolutionary élite to forgo exporting the revolution at any price and to limit the major focus to Iran itself, undercutting the transnational element of its ideology and heralding to an extent a broader failure to achieve its goals.