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The Iranian Imperial Guard was both the personal guard force of the Shahs of Iran and an elite combat branch of the Imperial Iranian Army. It was created in 1942 and disbanded in 1979.
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In 1921 a Persian Royal Guard was in existence comprising 20,000 men. A Guard Division was raised in 1925, incorporating both cavalry and infantry units.
The Imperial Guard was subsequently formed in 1942 from 700 volunteers. It was originally designed and organized by General Jafar Shafaghat. The division was modeled after the Republican Guard (France) of France and the British Royal Horse Guards.
In 1953 the unit was expanded in size to a division under General Teymur Bakhtar. In 1972 the Lashkari Guard Division was incorporated in the Imperial Guard together with a Conscript Brigade.
The core of the Imperial Guard was the all volunteer Javidan Guard (Gârd e Jâvidân, Persian: Immortal Guard), also known as the "Immortals" after the ancient Persian royal guard or Persian Immortals. The "Immortals" were based in the Lavizan Barracks in northern Tehran.[1] By 1978 this elite force comprised a brigade of 4,000-5,000 men, including a battalion of Chieftain tanks. It was responsible for the internal and external security of the royal palaces. A special plain-clothes unit was called Ma'mourin Makhsous. From 1968 the Javidan Guard included a 30-strong Pahlavi Cavalry Guard - a Household Cavalry unit. The last Commanding Officer of the Javidan Guard was Lieutenant-Colonel Yusuf-i-nijad.
By the late 1970s the entire Imperial Guard (including conscripts outside the Javidan units) was 18,000 strong, with artillery, armored and helicopter units. The entire Guard comprised some 6% of the army, and were the only troops stationed permanently in the capital Tehran.
A recruit to the Imperial Guard had to pass a series of proficiency tests, varying in subjects and difficulty. Reportedly one of the prerequisites for initiation was to be able to recite one's family history back for 23 generations from memory alone.
Imperial Guard units were distinguished by salmon (light red) coloured insignia. The Pahlavi Cavalry Guard had special blue and red ceremonial uniforms, including silver cuirasses and crested helmets.
The Imperial Guard remained loyal to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi until his departure for exile in January 1979. After two days of fighting (February 9-11th) with armed civilians and dissident air force and army personnel the Imperial Guard was withdrawn to its bases and thereafter largely disintegrated. The Javidan Guard was formally dissolved by the new Iranian regime, though some units of the wider Imperial Guard remained in existence.
Following the revolution the remaining units of the Imperial Guard were stripped of their historic privileges and duties and integrated into the 21st Division of the regular army (Artesh). As such they saw action in the Iran-Iraq war.
The last Commander of the Imperial Guard, General Ali Neshat was executed as were a number of other officers and guardsmen. The former included several former Guard Commanders, such as General Abdul Ali Badrehi (1965-1978), who had risen to be Commander of Ground Forces. General Gholam Ali Oveisi, (Imperial Guard Commander 1960-1965), subsequently became Chief of the Army Staff before being made Military Governor of Tehran in 1978. He was appointed Minister of labor and Social Affairs from 1978-1979 and was assassinated in 1984 in Paris. One of the original commanders, General Jafar Shafaghat, during the last months prior to the fall of the Monarchy in 1979 was appointed by the Shah as the Minister of Defense (literary translation of this post from Persian is Minister of War) under Shapour Bakhtiar Cabinet until the fall of the regime.
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