 There is limited information available about the service of F-14s in the Iran–Iraq War.Western intelligence indicates that the IRIAF was in decline at the onset of the war in September 1980, and it is rumored that some level of sabotage was committed on the F-14s by either Americans or Iranians loyal to the Shah, during the Iranian Revolution.Following the overthrow of the Shah, most Iranian F-14 pilots and technicians trained in the United States fled from Iran, fearing their association with the Shah's regime, and their time in the United States would endanger them.