Between Ideology and Strategy: The Iranian Revolution and the Reconfiguration of Middle Eastern Security

The Iranian revolution of 1979 is generally portrayed either as the catalyst of sectarian polarization in the Middle East or, more recently, as the foundation of a pragmatic grand strategy shaped by geopolitical insecurity and learning forged by decades of war. This article challenges this binary opposition between ideology and strategy. It contends that the rise of the Islamic Republic reshaped the wider region through the co‐constitution of revolutionary identity and security doctrine. The experience of the Iran‐Iraq War institutionalized a strategic culture in which ideological mobilization and asymmetric adaptation became mutually reinforcing, eventually crystallizing into the doctrine of forward defense. Drawing on regional security complex theory and analysis of Iran's application of the doctrine in Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria, the article demonstrates that sectarian narratives function not as autonomous drivers of conflict but as politically activated instruments within broader geopolitical rivalry. The revolution's enduring regional impact lies in the normalization of hybrid power projection and the transformation of deterrence and sovereignty practices across the region.