I almost brought the F-14s up in my reply, but I found conflicting information. I have read that they haven't flown since the maintenance people scrambled out of iran after the overthrow of the shah. I have read that the Grumman people sabotaged the planes on their way out of the country. I have read that they have cannibalized some of the planes to keep others flying. and I have read that all 80 of them are operational.
I guess the bottom line is that nobody knows.
If Pukin' is around, maybe he can give us the straight dope on Iranian F14s ... Last I heard, they had a couple dozen or so flying (occasionally).
No. The Iranians continued to operate their F-14s even after the Shah was deposed. Today they are still noted flying operations and are very well known to the Coalition forces stationed there. The got spares under Iran gate and have cannibalised and reverse engineered most of their spares. The Iranian F4, F-5 and P-3 fleet are still very much active too and well known to the Coalition forces stationed in the Gulf. The Iranians have developed quite a strong aerospace industry and certainly are adept at reverse engineering spare parts.