How would a war with Iran go?

Easy-8

Active member
Here are my thoughts on this subject...

Iran is a bigger country than Iraq and Afghanistan put together. They have alot more people as well and what is more - their military is much more effective than the two above...

There population: 68,017,860 this is more than Afghanistan and Iraq together. And is larger than Afghanistan and Iraq together. Iran is a very interesting country it is far from a 3rd world dump covered by a endless range of desert and/or mountians. As has been pointed out before there is also a great distance between any assaulting force from the sea.

Iran is probably going to be a tough shell to crack. They have a fantical para-military group called the Pasdaran (it means "students" in Persian) these are the same freaks that took over that US embassy more than 2 decades ago, they number something like 125,000 they launched human wave attacks against Saddam in the Iraq/Iran war. they there fantical beliefs make the samuri warriors of Japan look as brave as the scumbags who are trying to find away out of our own military. They themselves are a self contained force with its own armor, artillery, aircraft, and even a few naval forces. Their rugular army has over 300,000 men. We would face a number of insurgents much larger than that of Iraq. For this invasion we would need something like 400,000 troops or maybe even 500,000. We could not gain this number without a draft.

The shortest route to launch a invasion into Iran in a effort to capture Tehran is the town of Abadan, or Khorramshahr near the Iraqi border both of which were the scence of heavy fighting during the Iraq/Iran War . That road is over 650 km to Tehran. You also have to pass through Ahvaz (3.7 million regional pop), Khorram abad (1.5 million regional pop), Arak (1.2 million regional pop), and Qom (850,000 regional pop) to reach Tehran. In this area alone we have a massive population to deal with we could end up facing 100,000 insurgents in this area alone. The Iranian soldiers on the other hand are better equiped and (probably) much better trained than their Iraqi counterparts they look like they could put a hurtin' on our boys and girls. They have the terrian advantage and could have some nasty ambushes among other things for any invasion force. and and last but not least Basji militia is said to have more than 7,000,000 troops under its command (!!!!!!) although they are poorly trained their numbers alone could make them a major problem... I would not be so quick to look them over because of their lack of training and modern equipment. Remember Saddam's Fedayeen? Coalition commanders did not take them seriously and they fought harder than the Iraqi Army or even the Republican guard and in most cases stood their ground when the other two gave up and surrendered. Iranian troops unlike the Iraqis use a German rifle - the G3 rather than the AK-47 and their MBT's look fairly modern. The Iranians probably would not be getting much artillery support due to fact it would be for the most part destroyed by air attacks. To get a good look at what fighting them will be like it is best to look at the tactics and methods deployed by Hezbollah in the 2006 Lebanon conflict. As that war showed us Hezbollah is much more effective as a military institution than any of us could thought. These are not the same clueless conscripts that were randomly thrown together to form Divisions in the Iraqi Army... No these are professional soldiers who know what they are doing.

I would expect any where from 6,000 to 30,000 KIA during the invasion part. As I heard one USMC veteran of the Vietnam War say "we will win, but they (Iranians) are 100x anything the Iraqis were.

As has been pointed out Terhan has 11 million people living there. This is nearly two times greater than Baghdad! And the distance is also much greater from the sea than from than from Kuwait to Baghdad. However this is a far cry from what happied to the German 6th Army at Stalingrad. There are is nothing that could break apart the flow of supplies across Iran completely like the Soviets did at Stalingrad. We can always use helicopers and cargo planes to bring in fresh supplies in the event it got this bad. The fanatics will go up into the mountians of western Iran and hide there and will have to be flushed out using spec ops and other specialized units. Iran's cities have tall buildings which could be used to as sniper posts for any insurgent or soldier and could do some damage to our guys below. I would count on battles for various cities to be about as bloodly as Fallujah and the big one - Terhan could be quit a blood bath which could have anywhere from 1,000 to 3,000 casualties.

Iran will without doubt send the full force of Hezbollah on our troops in Iraq. And as I have said before, Hezbollah is a fairly effective fighting force and could do some damage. They are not mere clowns who wrap white or red cloth around their faces and go out and do spray and prays on our troops with the marksmanship of a Somalian gunmen. They have weapons and know how to use them well and have a large bag of tricks to pull on the coalition. The sea in the British sector could become a bit rough because huge Shi'ite population centers such as Barsa are located there. We would probably face some rebellions from the Shia members of the New Iraqi Army and they could screw things up should Iraqi troops be included in any type of offensive operation against Iran. I don't think we would have any kind of problems from Afghan troops or people seeing as how most of them are Sunni anyway.

Taking a break from the military part of it lets go on to the political aspect. A war with Iran would not go over well with a large number of left-winged people and groups. expect large anti-war rallies in all major cities. A draft would probably create a political nightmare on a massive scale. This is the only reason I could see the US failing is if the wet anti-war pansies get the better of the loyal Americans. However if Iran should dare use one single WMD against our troops that would be the end of a good chunk of this anti-war idea and we would probably have a coalition as big if not bigger than the one in Desert Storm.

And what of our allies? The UK would be more than likely to fallow us, and a number of other powers would join are multi-national task force. And Israel would be more than happy to help us. All we have to do is ask. I also believe Afghan and Iraqi troops would be involved. And I highly doubt China or Russia would stand against us, any idea like this sounds to much like another Tom Clancy novel. And as I have said before if Iran starts anything we will have a massive number of nations backing the US.

I think we could pull of a invasion of Iran, However I don't think now is the time... And if we do.... Things could be very... Ouch...
 
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We've done enough for now, the EU needs to prove they can do more than oppose everything American, let them deal with this one.
 
Iran will truly be much tougher then Iraq and Afgahanistan this will make the Hitler's invasion of the soviet union look like child play this will not be acake walk it will be a blood bath and cost alot more then Iraq and OEF but in lives lost the toll will be higher it will be a very long war no OIF victory but true blood bath I hope that if an invasion is done it won't be the US alone for humanties future is at stake here.
 
Iraq once had the fourth largest army in the world. Inside of Iraq they used natural cover to their advantage. The Iraqi's made use of ridges and hills to lay ambushes for the American tanks and infantry as they came into the kill zone.

The Iraqi's did not have an adaquate Air Force to protect their ground assets and their positions were chewed to bits by coalitiion aircraft before they had a chance to spring their traps. In the rare instances where Coalition troops on the ground actually caught sight living enemy soldiers they destroyed the Iraqi forces with very little loss of life.

Fast forward 15 years.

Similar situation in Iran except this time the gaps are even greater. Our weapons have been constantly improving while the Iranian weapons have been falling into a greater state of disrepair. (How many of their Tomcats can still fly? Two?) What kind of tanks do the Iranians have? British Chieftains, Pattons and some late model Russian tanks?

The best option, if we have the time, is to do nothing. The youth bubble is about to burst in Iran. Right now there are five people between the ages of 15-18 for every job available to them. The fundamentalist government enjoys very little popularity with the younger generation, given time the current regime in Iran will be replaced by a less radical, more open government. Iranians are descended from the Persian Empire and are a very proud people, we could use that pride to get the younger generation to fix the problems of the older generation. It's their pride that could be the greatest weapon, the moment the bombs start falling any hope of using this pride goes out the window as their rage will be turned against us, rather than with us.
 
Don't worry, we have a panic button hooked up to some neutron bombs if it really gets that bad. The sickness seems like it's getting better, and then...
 
Iran will truly be much tougher then Iraq and Afgahanistan this will make the Hitler's invasion of the soviet union look like child play this will not be acake walk it will be a blood bath and cost alot more then Iraq and OEF but in lives lost the toll will be higher it will be a very long war no OIF victory but true blood bath I hope that if an invasion is done it won't be the US alone for humanties future is at stake here.

I don't think it will be anything like Operation Barbarossa. I would probably say it would be more like the German invasion of France and the low countries a campiagn with the where the writting is on the wall as too who the victor will be but the question is more like how much will is cost the coalition before the day is won. the Iranians do not have the ability to completely fight off a invasion force they do however have the ability to bloodly are noises and make us pay dearly for a hard won victory.

I am pretty sure it would be a nasty blood bath because the Iranian forces look very much up to the job of fighting a invasion force with everything they have. And their kit is not as :cen: as many believe...
 
In any case, it's not worth the bother, despite what I'm seeing on the news, I'm confident that the negotiations will have results in time. That or the U.S/allies could damage Iranian infrastructure (farms/bridges/pipelines/railroads), completely cut off the nation from internation food/oil/steel shipments, and invade/tough negotations 1-2 years later.
 
In any case, it's not worth the bother, despite what I'm seeing on the news, I'm confident that the negotiations will have results in time. That or the U.S/allies could damage Iranian infrastructure (farms/bridges/pipelines/railroads), completely cut off the nation from internation food/oil/steel shipments, and invade/tough negotations 1-2 years later.

The only reason negotiations are still going on is because Ahmendindahsjdad is no idiot. He does it to please the rest of the world and buy time while his nuclear program is running full steam.

Bomb their oil fields. No oil = no money; and no money means no nuclear program. No one would even bother with Iran if it wasn't for their oil (Yes, I am talking to you Vladimir Putin).
 
Find an alternative for oil.

Easier said than done, my friend. As a science major and an American patriot, I wish for the US to leap into the future of energy by being the first nation where a vast majority of the nation uses an alternative energy source and not be dependent upon hostile nations to feed their oil addiction. Even if we were to come up with an alternative to oil, it would take at least 20 years for a sizable amount of the population to get rid of their gas guzzlers and buy the new car. We should, however, get started...
 
I believe that it can be done. Various alternatives have been used... Corn for example (though it does have problems of its own). In limited places like Iceland which have natural geysers which can turn turbines, battery powered vehicles are in use.
Ironically the only guys with the kind of expertise and resources to pull this off are... oil companies. But until an alternative fuel (and setting up the whole friggin' support system for it like the supply of it and vehicles or engines that run on it) becomes cheaper than just using fossile fules, they won't do it, even if they have the technology already. Why? Possibly because they've already invested trillions of dollars in oil rigs, speculation and all other kinds of stuff that it would present a huge loss if they just abandoned fossile fuels and went on to other stuff. That switch over would mean that all that oil they don't pump out, is money thrown in the bonfire. They paid for all the things to get that oil out, they, as a company, have the objective of making as much profit as possible.
Unfortunately the source of the oil is in a region which was volitile enough even BEFORE we discovered all that fuel over there.
So it's not so much that we can't, it's just that the motivation isn't there anymore. The oil companies have a lot of power because they provide a commodity that society cannot function without and therefore there can't really be serious pressure against them... they have us all by the balls.
 
Ironically the only guys with the kind of expertise and resources to pull this off are... oil companies.

You're right, and it is interesting that some of the companies are getting away from the "O" word and moving towards calling themselves "Energy" companies, so they can be on the ground floor when the alternative fuel movement really starts moving, so to speak.
 
We already have the ability to greatly reduce our dependence on oil. Ethanol, solar and wind energy. Those three can themlseves almost replace oil. We are producing enormous amounts of excess crops here in America, Africa won't take it to feed their starving people because they don't want the Europeans to get upset and stop buying African crops. Europeans won't take it because they are producing an excess themselves and the EU has banned anything American because it could cause cancer, yet people smoke in public everywhere in Europe. That leaves us with two options, burn it or make ethanol out of it. Sure Ethanol is only slightly less dangerous to the environment, but it's a start.
 
The day that the alternative fuel movement becomes serious is the day that every home in the United States has it's own fiber-optic cable.

Point is, oil is hugely profitable right now, and there is almost no incentive to change the United States infrastructure to accomodate any changes toward reform. Maybe it will happen when the War on Terror is over or quiets down, but until then it simply won't happen.
 
I see france playing a big role in this issue since they have been adiment about UN security resolutions. However I also see China getting behind Iran since in 2004 they signed a 25 year contract for Oil and LNG.
 
Which is why China will sit out any UN Security council vote though they might veto anything and they are just doing the Iranians a favor.
 
i dont think Iran's military would be much of a match for the US, but i do think that there would be an insurgency worse than iraqs. all in all it would not be a fun endeavor for the USA.
 
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