With the recent events involving Iran and Pakistan could we see a dramatic escallation? From a military standpoint which country is in better shape?

Iran. The Pakistanis are walking a very delicate line right now. They are at odds with one another (Taliban vs anti-Taliban) while Iran is pretty solid about what it wants to do about the whole problem with Pakistan.

aslong as pakistan is the only ones with functional nukes there wont be any conflict but conventionally i would think the Iranians have the upper hand...

Originally Posted by captiva303

aslong as pakistan is the only ones with functional nukes there wont be any conflict but conventionally i would think the Iranians have the upper hand...

This may sound stupid or I may be ignorant or both but even if Iran had nukes could you ever see two Islamic nations hurling them at each other?

yes just because they are Muslim doesn't make them one big happy family think Catholics and protestants in medieval Europe...

Thanks for that. Does anyone envisage a coventional clash between these nations if tensions continue to rise?

Originally Posted by captiva303

aslong as pakistan is the only ones with functional nukes there wont be any conflict but conventionally i would think the Iranians have the upper hand...

thought i answered this but i cannot envisage any large scale open war between the two countries with the current parameters...

I think, the possibility of a full scale conflict is close to nil. Other than the Pakistan nuke factor, there are some other factors that make such a scenario quite impossible.

1] Presence of a large international force in that area. I'm sure one of the US, UK, France will be able to convince Pak, Iran.

2] China - It is the closest that both these nations have to a friend. China has friendly/trade/defence relations with both Iran and Pakistan. A conflict, small or big between Iran and Pak would, I think, be detrimental to China's interest in this region. And China wields considerable influence in both these countries.