BACKGROUND / How big is Iran's military?
A breakdown of Iran's military capability, including equipment held by the Revolutionary Guards.
By Reuters Tags: Iran Israel newsIran test-fired a missile on Monday that defense analysts have said could hit Israel and U.S. bases in the Gulf, state media reported, a move that may irk world powers ahead of rare talks with Tehran this week.
Listed below are some details about Iran's military capability. The totals include equipment held by the Revolutionary Guards, which operate on land, at sea and in the air:
ARMED FORCES:- Iran has over 523,000 personnel in active service. Major General Ataollah Salehi is the armed forces chief.
MISSILES: - In a 2007 parade to mark the anniversary of 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, Iran showed its Shahab 3 missile, saying it could travel 2,000 km -- enabling it to hit Israel and U.S. bases in the region. Another missile at the parade, the Ghadr 1, can reach targets 1,800 km away. It was believed to be the first time it has been shown publicly. In November 2008, Iran said it test-fired a Sejjil missile with a range of close to 2,000 km.
ARMY: - The army comprises about 350,000 men, including 220,000 conscripts. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, viewed as the most loyal guardian of the ruling system, has another 125,000 men. In 2004 the army was organised in four corps, with four armored divisions and six infantry divisions.- There are 1,600 tanks including some 100 Zulfiqar locally produced main battle tanks. A large number of Iran's tanks are elderly British-made Chieftains and U.S.-made M-60s. - Soviet-made T-54 and T-55s, T-59s, T-62s, and T-72s were also part of the inventory, all captured from the Iraqis or acquired from North Korea and China. - A report from the International Institute for Strategic Studies says that some of the tanks' serviceability may be in doubt. - There are around 640 armored personnel carriers. There are 8,196 artillery pieces of which 2,010 are towed, and over 310 are self-propelled.
NAVY: - There are 18,000 naval personnel. The navy has its headquarters at Bandar-e Abbas. Iran's navy has three Russian Kilo class submarines, three frigates and two corvettes.- As of 2001 the regular Iranian navy was in a state of overall obsolescence, and in poor shape because they had not been equipped with modern ships and weapons. The readiness of the three frigates is doubtful, and the two nearly 40-year-old corvettes do not have sophisticated weapons. - In late 2007 Iran launched a new locally made submarine and a navy frigate named as Jamaran. Jane's Defence Weekly has reported that Iran was also building missile-launching frigates copied from 275-tonne Kaman fast attack missile craft originally purchased from France in the late 1970s.
AIR FORCE:- The air force has some 30,000 personnel and 319 combat aircraft. However, serviceability may be as low as around 60 percent for U.S. aircraft types and 80 percent for Russian aircraft. There are F-14 and MiG 29 aircraft. There are also some aircraft impounded from Iraq -- Russian-built Sukhoi Su-24s and 25s. Iran also has transport aircraft and helicopters. - In September 2007, Iran said it had tested two new domestically-produced jet fighters. State television said the Saegheh was a new generation of the Azarakhsh (Lightning) fighter. Iran said it was being built on an industrial scale.
Sources: Reuters/Military Balance2008/www.globalsecurity.org/Jane's Defence Weekly
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A Shahab 3 missile is prepared for launch during a test Mon. from an unknown location in central Iran. |
| Photo by: (Reuters) |
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Israel's air force has more fighters than the whole of Middle East air forces put together. As for the rockets, Jerico 3 has a range of 4000 km. Army and the Navy are both well armed and more than capable of defending Israel. So playing the little Israel card does not wash.
hahahaha...sweep the US? Those boys don't even know what kind of hell we can unleash when we really want to. Don't fool yourselves.
WHy You People are scared of all these! Be Brave . All of you talk abt war and killing people but we Iranian never think! Maybe our Gov. As i am sure there will be no support from people.
report on something you've witnessed first hand?? All you do is bottom feed like a catfish Remember how you claimed that Iran never ever threatened Israel, another one of your lies and distortions of facts and history It's no wonder you've lost so much of your pathetic readership, they got fed up
You forget to mention that 90% of Iran's airforce is based on US technology..for years they have to get sparesupplies on the secondhand market, the F-14 are maybe the most effective aircraft..the new homebuild aircraft are still based on 1950-1960's technology.. next to that I wonder how many hours an Iranian Air Force pilot is flying in a year... The most dangerous in my eyes is coming from the "guided" ground-ground missiles
...I'm starting to wonder when you will ever get one right.
wow, seriously wacky
Russian chief spy ever in the West ,British PM Harold Wilson cancelled the agreed sale of Chieftain tanks to Israel in 1969. I'm not aware of any Chieftains in Israeli service .There might have been some taken as a booty from Jordan ,so beloved by the Brits.
#4 uri aka bedouin please do count on murder and mahaim i hope you salavate, froth at the mouth and the like, beacuse when your first cousins once removed drop the hammer on your head; look out. The only marching will be done by ishmael and haggars people, decendents of Avram, Yitzchok, Yacob FASLE TESTIMONY is'nt tolerated by sharia law YOU KNOW this masalami ya ach
is always there. This is why the nuclear capability of Israel is not a threat. It is only a deterrent or last resort in case it is attacked by nuclear arms. _-David Israel. Not true. Israel has the largest most modern military in the Middle East. Israel overflies almost any country at will. No one dares challenge Israel because even if they have the means to do so. Israel has the nuclear bomb that ensures their hegemony and military dominance in the Middle East. It is nuclear blackmail, if our conventional forces cannot defeat you our nuclear capability will.Israel with the nuclear back up to its conventional forces is then free to engage in continued land expropriation and selective ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian from land they wish to have.- ANY On the other hand as you mentioned for Iran - a country where human life can be disposable as we have seen recently in the case of young student Nida - nuclear arms are a threat to world peace because they might use it for offensive purposes e
Israel does not know what it is dealing with. An attack on Iran and it would not only have to worry about Iran but also Lebanon and Gaza, it would be bombed from all three sides and it is impossible to win a war like this. Don't expect other nations to join in as they are having a hard enough time getting their troops into Afghanistan and they are less likely to be killed in that war than one with Iran.
About 6 times as many Hezbollah died than IDF. Hezbollah's power base in Beirut was destroyed. Hezbollah bunkers south of the Litani lie in ruins. Nasrallah is scared to go out in public, and to you Israel could hardly take on Hezbollah! In a war with Iran all that Israel has to do is take out Iran's power production facilities and gasoline storage tanks to destroy Iran's economy.
We need to stick to negotiations.
Here are a few questions, Can they fly.? Can they shoot straight.? Do they have logistics for such a large army.? Do they have command and control.? Do they have real officers, with GSC Training.? Do they have enough Super Glue, to keep all that equipment running, at least until they meet up with an invading Army.? Finally, do they know how to fight, before they get whacked by ZAHAL.? Thought not..! So do they, hence all the "pomp and missiles"!. Goodnight from chilly Swiss Alps.
Swedish newspapers publish unfounded claims that Israeli soldiers targetted Palestinians in order to harves their organs. Besides which if you know your history you will know that during the Yom Kippur war a Chieftan tank of the Israeli Army survived 22 direct hits. What was that doing there if we refused to sell them to Israel? I think you are confusing the UK's refusal to sell Israel a factory to produce the Cheiftan main Battle Tank.
Seriously, I just want to laugh, the people on this forum are not military analysts, and they believe that it does not matter how big or strong Iran is. I'll tell you something - Iran survived a war with Iraq for 8 years, Iraq became broke and were utterly destroyed by the early nineties with warfare with the US - then the US came back and finished them off, to compare Iraq to Iran is simply lopsided, US will NOT go to war with Iran because they know it is folly.
....due to their constant threats and chest thumping,many believe they are a serious danger. Outside of nukes,if they get them,they are not very frightening. Most of their tanks,planes,missiles are outdated,basically held together with duct tape. No match for any modern military force.
At the 1945 Yalta conference, Joseph Stalin famously quipped "How many divisions does the Pope have?" (The answer was none). Without a doubt Iran's Mullahs are the world's best (and only) armed theocracy. The Vatican's Swiss Guard must make do without a single tank.
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob shows up
Sir, It's obvious you haven't been listening to Uri #4 when in fact he should be listening to you.
I can't figure you out Uri. Are you trying to scare us or are you trying to make us laugh?
Iran would last all of about 3 hours after all their water, Power, and transportaion would be knocked out by IDF. Then their are the Israeli Missles which hit within feet of thier target. I hate to say is the Iraq's did go into thier tanks or trasnportation it would look like a repeat of what the USA did to Iraq's leaving Kawait. Cheers, Levi
Just like everyone thought the Iraqi army was fierce, and It was not, the same is Iran, what they have should only scare the 3rd world countries like lybia and the likes. Iran unlike it's ancient ancestors who fought hand to hand, will hide like school girls when they are struck. Then The innocent will take over.
How Big Iran's Military ? King Hezekiah had rebelled against the Assyrians. The Assyrians marched against Jerusalem. Sennacherib sent his Supreme Commander with an army to besiege Jerusalem. The supreme commander met Hezekiah's officials,& threatened them to surrender; while HAILING INSULTS so the people of the city could hear,blaspheming Judah & particularly GOD. When King Hezekiah heard this he tore his clothes. He prayed to GOD in the Temple in Jerusalem. Isaiah the Prophet told the king that God would take care of the matter. That very same night,the angel of the Lord killed the ENTIRE ASSYIRIAN CAMP of 185,000 troops. The destruction occourred on Passover Night. Sennacherib returned to Nineveh in disgrace. Some years later while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, two of his sons killed him & fled. Find parallels with todays Iran & Ahmadienjad !
So based on this Canadian report I would suspect that if Israel attacks they will do so initially with Jericho missiles and then follow through 48 hrs or so later to mop up with less aircraft in order not to suffer as greatly with potentially 20%+ aircraft losses. It would be interesting to see if Hezbollah would then retaliate on behalf of Iran as what happened to Lebanon a few yrs ago would likely be nothing compared to what would happen, this round. In any event I suspect that once Israel attacked, suicidal Iran would fire missiles at US bases in Iraq, etc and that would bring about the end of Iran's quest for nuclear weapons, and very likely an end to the leaders of Iran as Iran's Revolutionary Guards are decimated.. Whatever is going to happen is not too far away as winter is approaching and oil is still needed to heat people's homes. Quite frankly I am surprised that there has been no attack yet. This could all be avoided if countries that shipped fuel to Iran, stopped today.
Iran's power is almost zero compared to Israel and USA; however, size does not matter as the Israeli-Lebense recent war has shown us. What matter is the following: (1) Are you right or wrong? (2) Are fighting to defend yourself and your nation or trying to colonize other nations? (3) Are you dedicated to fight to death, or you want to shoot and run??
oh dear oh dear oh dear.
Be careful Israel, dont get lackadaisical these are Persians not Arabs big difference its like German soldier vs. Polish soldier big difference. Arabs don't have anygood arab officers and generals, Lebanon 06 Hezbollah was controlled by Iranian officers. We should be little bit careful we have fought only arabs.Persians survived 2500 years with many empires throughout history.67" Arabs had so called better tech but our soldiers trained better and wanted it more.
The point being: 1. Iran bases it's combat strategies on the basis of a-symmetrical warfare instead of symmetrical warfare, where numbers and quality of naval ships, jet fighters and tanks do matter. But in a-symmetrical warfare they do not. The Iranian leaders have chosen capability to hurt the enemy above protection of the country and population itself. 2. Therefore there should be only info about number of terrorist cells outside Iran, (ballistic) missiles, speedboats and land-to-sea torpedo's (check out the Pentagon war simulations in the Strait of Hormuz).
Israel has nukes, OK? As soon as Iran gets its first nuke, be watching for a bright flash of light and a large mushroom cloud on the eastern horizon. Also, be watching for other Arab countries to move in and take over what's left of Iran. Why would they care? Because Israel is the home of Islam's third holiest shrine-the Dome of the Rock, located in the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem. Drop a nuke anywhere in Israel and you'll destroy that too. Then see what happens.
in consideration, that Israel fought all the wars against Arabs, mostly in a short period of time (engagement in Lebanon not included) In the Iran-Iraq war (8 years) the Iranians as the technical underdogs showed tremendous consistency and persistence. I would not under estimate this nation. They are not Arabs ! And the shiite population in Iraq and Syria is a special challenge.
This is why the nuclear capability of Israel is not a threat. It is only a deterrent or last resort in case it is attacked by nuclear arms. On the other hand as you mentioned for Iran - a country where human life can be disposable as we have seen recently in the case of young student Nida - nuclear arms are a threat to world peace because they might use it for offensive purposes especially with a crazy president like Ahmedinejad and a religion based supreme leadership who would do anything in the name of religious reasons. Your post made the point that 1. Nuclear Israel cannot be a threat to peace 2. Nuclear Iran with Ayatollahs and Ahmedinejad is definitely a serious threat to peace.
As can be seen from the IISS yearbook, Iran has a clapped-out 3rd world air force and armour and a non-event navy. The massive numbers in the army are meaningless without mobility, logistics and modern weapons. It's more like Saddam Hussein's army in the Gulf Wars, fine for digging-in for infantry defence against the Iraqi army or similar but well out of its league against NATO-level airpower and armour. The sole 'threat' posed is by its SSMs and potential nuclear warheads, protected as they are by modern SAMs supplied by Russia. The likelihood of their using either in a pre-emptive way is about zero, as it would lead to the immediate demolition of their sole offensive capability prestige weapons. It is premature to get in a flap and start planning WW3.
The Iraqis and Iranians fought to a stalemate after 8 long years of war. Less than 3 weeks after Iraq was invaded by the US/UK, Baghdad fell. There is a huge difference between the military capabilities of Iran and its enemies. Iran's military is good for a parade, but that is about it.
Yes, Iran's military is big, but are they effective? Certainly no!! I hope the Israelis will bomb them to stone age.
page 76 some Iranian capabilities csis.org/files/media/csis/pubs/090316_israelistrikeiran.pdf
For those politicians and people who do not understand the situation with Iran. Ahmadinejad has been openly telling the world his plans: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7Cqp3crBto&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLjVv3TkRXs&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNoRkZZruu8&feature=related
In the past 5 years, Iran has done very few military strikes (compare that to US and Israel). But they know how to do strategic deals and multiply their strength, even as they weaken their enemies. Look how Hizbullah, Hamas and Syria have been strengthened - and US, Israel, EU weakened. Measuring Iran in terms of military equipment is like living in the 90s. Today its a matter of precision managing the 24/7 news cycle - and Iran has perfected this.
everything is either Russian or US made, why don't those two countries fight it off and get it over with.. all we've been having for the last 60 years are proxy wars.
If attacked, Iran can destroy US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and send so many body bags home, it will topple Obama. Iran can cut the air off the oil ships in the Homuz strait. And Iran can launch an instant rebellion in Saudi Arabia - and destabilize Mubarak. BUT IRAN WILL DO NONE OF THESE. It will play the chess game with such finesse, US will quietly accept Irans nuke and superiority in ME - and force Israel to accept 2 state solution. Because, rhetoric apart, the biggest loser in an escalation will be USA. That calculation Obama has done.
The French had Europe's biggest military in 1939 how much did it help them?The Arabs had 35 to 1 in size,was it any better?The Americans and Vietnam,The Soviet and Afghanistan.Quantity is not a quality.
The bigger it is,the more can be destroyed. In a nuclear war the size of any military is irrelevant.Also the size of the country,the bigger it is,the more targets there is. In such a war there is no winner only one that suffered more than the other,the big one! But the suffering will always be on both sides huge suffering!!!Who cares how many tanks or guns they have,would they march to Israel? fly?sail? the threat is't a conventional threat.
Dear, This article is very much copy paste from Reuters. About the power of Iranian Defense Forces no body has any doubt, they have shown their capabilities during the second Lebanon war against the IDF I would say.
There is a significant amount of information that no one knows. And it's only logical for them to hide and conceal some of the stuff they have. If any one were to launch an attack against another country based on these kinda stat's,then the aggressor would be in for a very big surprise. At least the latest developments on the nuclear issue told the world so.
israel's population is 7 million , iran"s population is over 50 million if an all out wmd war breaks out , and in the case that iran also owns an A bomb , and if it uses it on israel , it will affect either by killing or injuring for life more than half the population of israel , and israel cannot afford a big loss like that , while iran can easily give up 10 or 20 million of its population ,which she can afford since the population is so big .. israel will be the big looser
It does not matter how big the Iranian army is if they can hit you with a nuclear tipped missile.
This article is not showing the real strengt of Iranian forces. Remember the 2006 war and how Hezbollah completely outsmarted the IDF? Well Israelis, you better get your suitcases ready, because Iranian forces, when attacked by Israel, may rather sooner than later march trough the streets of Tel Aviv. So do not get fooled: Iranian military forces are very well equiped with very sophisticated Russian weapons and are very well capable of sweeping U.S. forces out of Iraq, cross the Syrian border and within weeks after a IAF attack on Iran, they will go for a coffee in Tel Aviv.
-ael. British Royal Marines ,paraded on Iranian TV after being snatched from international waters are a fitting repay for it.
military capabilities , We can rest assured of how dangerous this country is. This gives a lot of credence to Israeli propaganda.....