What are Iranian capabilities ?

So whats the lowdown of Iranian military capabilities if they do carry out an offensive against Israel if the US/UK/FR go ahead with strikes.

Iran can make a real mess of the Persian gulf and surrounding states actively supporting the rebels in Syria.
They could engage oil fields in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia ,attack from air or land US targets in Afghanistan or Turkey itself, Iranian arms and personnel can be transported to Syria through Iraqi airspace with c-130 transports, which may include air re-fueling variants.
www.rferl.org...

reply to post by deviant300


They have less of everything, but their allies would (CH,RUS) have the deficit plugged in a war. Iran is a difficult country to invade as it's terrain is suited to defence.

I think Iran is stronger than anyone thinks...

Iran is not able to carry out an offensive against Israel. There are other countries in the way. They certainly would not want to have a go with half of NATO in the area.

As to Iran's capabilities... Limited.

Regards

The only way Iran attacks Israel is with missile strikes. They don't have the capabilities or the training to take them on with airstrikes, or ground attacks.

reply to post by Zaphod58

I beg to differ
www.rferl.org...
www.iraniandefence.com...

reply to post by all2human


And what do you think US forces in the region are going to do while Iranian planes go flying into Syria to refuel before hitting Israel? Do you think they're just not going to notice the Iranian Air Force moving towards Israel? We have a number of fighters and E-3s in the right area to stop Iranian planes going through Iraq if we really needed to.

Add to that the fact that Iranian pilots don't have a lot of experience with air to air refueling, and again, Iran doesn't have the training or capability to hit Israel with anything but missile strikes.

reply to post by Zaphod58


I'm not suggesting anything ,other than Iran can mobilize a ground force in Syria and has force projection,they do have the capability(although limited)

reply to post by all2human


But they don't have the training to do it. Transferring arms is one thing, deploying a long range strike force is totally different and much harder. If you don't train for it, you can't just suddenly do it successfully.

reply to post by deviant300

This:


Fact is, these nations are very poorly equipped.

The only time they were able to engage in any kind of cross border war was when both sides were being armed by the US in the Iran/Iraq war.

They have small arms, enough to keep their societies relatively crime free, thats it.

The US attacks, invasions and occupations of these nations are nothing less than war crimes and crimes against humanity.

reply to post by Zaphod58


I agree, there probably not very good at it, but the capability is there
that's all i'm saying, they've' had years to pre-pare..

on their own isreal has far greater tech, weapons and training..depends on who joins in and how far either side is willing to go

reply to post by all2human


The capability is there, but that's like saying that Iraq can hit New York, because they have F-16s (or will soon). You can have the capability, but it's useless if you can't use it.

reply to post by Zaphod58


I think iv'e made my point, no?

reply to post by all2human


You've made the point that they have the capability, not that they can realistically do it.

reply to post by Zaphod58


I dont remember the revolution going that way

reply to post by itsallgonenow


If the Revolution was fought with modern weapons, it would have come out differently. The world has changed a lot since then.

reply to post by Zaphod58


www.abovetopsecret.com...
C-130 can easily be converted to air to air variant

reply to post by all2human


You know what, you're right. The fact that it takes months to train a pilot to refuel from a tanker doesn't mean a damn thing. They have tankers, that means they can hit Israel, and probably win. Who cares about training, they have the capability to do it, which means that they can do it. Training be damned.

The C-130 has a tanker variant, if you can get the drop tanks required to do it. But again, they don't train to refuel in flight, and don't have the training to pull off a long range strike. Technical capability be damned, they don't have the training capability to do it. Very few of their pilots have trained or practiced in flight refueling, because they don't have to. The IRiAF is a home based, short ranged force. You can have the technical capabilities, but if you don't have the training to do it, you aren't going to pull it off.