Iran - The most powerful military in the Mid East??

While reading up on the nuke issue i stumbled across this...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Iran has the most powerful military in the Middle East, but is relying on unconventional means to counter superior US military might in the region, a top US commander said.

Source


I thought this statement interesting as one would think that Israel, Turkey or even Saudi Arabia to have a more capable military..his reasoning is as follows..

"Number one, they have naval capacity to temporarily block the Straits of Hormuz, and interfere with global commerce if they should choose to do so," Abizaid said. "Number two, they've got a substantial missile force that can do a lot of damage to our friends and partners in the region," he said. "Number three, they have a pretty robust terrorist surrogate arm that could in the event of hostilities cause problems not only in the Middle East but globally. "And number four, they have a very substantial land army that, while it's not offensively worrying, is certainly capable of conducting asymmetric warfare."

Certainly doesn't seem like a smart idea to even contemplate attacking these guys..

Iraq had a pretty strong Army in 1991. At the time Baghdad was considered the most heavily defended city in the world.

they have a very substantial land army that, while it's not offensively worrying

That says it all right there. Iran is incapable of power projection. At best, they can put up a quick and tough defense at first (assuming the lead up to the ground battle doesn't involve bombardment from the air, sea, and space), but after that, their convetional army will crumble. They might be able to sabotague the oil ports, and maybe bomb rihyad and jerusalem with some rockets, but thats about it.

After being occupied, they'll have a lot of people with caches of weapons able to carry out a resistance. Thats not saying much. A resistance can only operate for so long before it needs outside help, if its going to be setting off powerful bombs and the like. THe iraqi resistance has the iranian government as its outside backer, the iranian resistance won't have any such thing.

Is Egypt considered the M.E.? I thought that they had the strongest military in the region.

Egypt does have a strong military...and better planes and helicopters than does Iran. I think Iran though is much further along with missle technology and the missles themselves. I wonder which is really stronger?

Globalfirepower has Iran slightly ahead of Egypt:

www.globalfirepower.com...

[edit on 20-9-2006 by princeofpeace]

The Problem is that i cant understand why we as united states nation cannot think about our problem instead of paying attention to irans nuclear energy which are their right !! we have our own problem ! Gas prices ! unemployment ! Insurances ! Houses & everything ... why cant we spend our money on our future instead of killing people all around the world????