The Military Performance of the First Pahlavi Government in Combating Contraband in Ilam: Analyzing Documents

Ilam has the largest land border with Iraq, making it difficult to be controlled. In recent decades, fighting against contraband as a destructive economic phenomenon in this region has always been a concern for the central government as well as the local military and disciplinary forces. The present study, with a descriptive-analytical approach and relying on the documents, sought to identify the measures taken by the military forces and other involved agents of the first Pahlavi government in combatting contraband. The findings show that the performance of the central government and local military forces in this regard was not efficient enough as the main strategy to resist the entry of contraband into Ilam, which was to arm all officials involved in the job, led to unintended conflicts and unrest in the region. Furthermore, because of inadequate training of some forces, they were in some cases disarmed by contrabandists who sometimes used the same weapons to loot government property and places. The use of informants was another way to confront smugglers, which was more successful despite some shortcomings.