F-14 Tomcat / IranGrumman F 14 Tomcat Iran Air Force airplane model. The sole foreign customer for the Tomcat was the Imperial Iranian Air Force, during the reign of the last Shah (King) of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In the early 1970s, the Imperial Iranian Air Force (IIAF) was searching for an advanced fighter, specifically one capable of intercepting Soviet MiG 25 "Foxbat" reconnaissance flights. After a visit of U. S. President Richard Nixon to Iran in 1972,