Iran was Western-aligned during the Cold War. When the Shah’s authoritarian regime was overthrown in 1979, Iran kept the military hardware that the US supplied the Shah with.
Having been exported to Pahlavi Iran under the Western-aligned Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1976, F-14s were used as land-based interceptors by the Imperial Iranian Air Force. Following the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force used them during the Iran–Iraq War.
Context for the video ? Are these Iranian F14s?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/breaking-footage-shows-israeli-air-force-destroying-iranian-f-14-tomcat-jets/ar-AA1GQ36a
Question: how did Iran come to obtain F14s?
Iran was Western-aligned during the Cold War. When the Shah’s authoritarian regime was overthrown in 1979, Iran kept the military hardware that the US supplied the Shah with.
According to Wikipedia:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumman_F-14_Tomcat
Follow up question: How did they keep the buggers running without OEM parts for nearly 50 years?
Mostly through turning others into parts. Their F-14 fleet shrinks every time they put a flight-hour on one.