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Immortal: A Military History of Iran and its Armed Forces. By Steven R. Ward. Washington: Georgetown University Press, 2009. ISBN 978-1-58901-258-5. Figures. Notes. BibUography. Index. Pp. xiii, $29.95.
Iran is clearly an important player in the region known as the Middle East not just because Iranians think it is but also because of the country's size, population, geopoUtical location, and its state ideology. In this context, any discussion of Iran's role in the Middle East and its strategic geopoUtical location inevitably leads to the state of the Islamic RepubUc of Iran's (IRI) mUitary and its nuclear ambition. As such, any contribution to developing a realistic overview of the country's armed forces is a welcomed endeavor. Steven R. Ward's book under review attempts to do just that by, first, providing a general background on the history of Iran's mUitary and, second,...