When the Shah declared martial law in response to mounting protests in 1978, and put military officers in charge, Jahanbani was not one of the military commanders, since he had very little experience with internal security affairs. As a result, when the Shah fled, despite the urging of his family, his friends in the US Air Force, as well as the Shah himself and his daughter Shahnaz (who was his sister in-law), Jahanbani falsely thought that he was safe from possible purges and retaliation against the security officials who suppressed the protests, as well as his belief that Iran's powerful air force would be a testament of his loyalty to the country, not the Shah himself.