 Before the Islamic Revolution the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi arranged to arm the Iranian Air Force with 80 Grumman F-14A Tomcats and 714 AIM-54 Phoenix missiles in a deal of US$2 billion, out of which 274 were delivered for US$150 million, 150 embargoed after the 1979 revolution and the additional 290 cancelled.in the 1970s Iran looked for an air superiority fighter to counter Soviet air incursions of MiG-25 fighters.In October 1978, two IIAF F-14As intercepted a high-and-fast–flying Soviet MiG-25 over the Caspian sea tracking it for two minutes and forcing it to abort a reconnaissance run over Iran.