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S Illinois | Israel and Iran are near peers when it comes to military strength. Iran is an old school lower tech, overwhelm with numbers type of force. Their strength is manpower and sheer number of older military platforms. Israel is a lower volume, high tech army. Neither can project power much beyond 50 miles of their border. Missiles and drones are the only weapons platform that either countries field that they can reach each with, other than small covert type operations. Israel and Iran are more than 600 miles apart over land and any land route includes going through Iraq and running along the Syrian border though desert which provides zero cover. This is why proxies are Iran's calling card. Money, logistical expertise, and small weapons platforms given to the proxies allow for the best route for Iran to continue the "wipe Israel off the map" fight. Iran knows its not possible to eliminate Israel directly and hasn't been since the 6 days war in 1967. But Iran can fight and bleed Israel with fear, harassment, and general unease causing Israel and their backers to spend treasure to defend themselves. It also allows for the Iranian leadership to appear strong to their populace and continue the fight against “the evil Zionists.”
Iran's land area is almost 4 times larger than Iraq's with very mountainous terrain. Iran is also more than twice as big as Afghanistan. So anyone that tries to invade or fight Iran will have an Afghanistan type fight on steroids on their hands. Israel can neither invade nor destroy Iran. Also any first strike nuclear attack would negate all the relation normalization progress made with the Sunni faction of Muslim countries in the last 50 year. Israel in 70 years has went from fighting all of its neighbors to actually being cooperative with the likes of Jordan, Egypt, and even Saudi Aribia. It doesn't get much air time but Trump was instrumental in getting some of the smaller Muslim Mid-Eastern nations to sign onto peace agreements with Israel and provide an avenue to turn away from Iran. Much like former Russian allies, many of the middle eastern countries prefer trade and prosperity vs the holy wars that got them nowhere. Only the older ruling generation in Saudi Arabia and their sympathy for their Palestinian "brothers" is preventing normalization of relations there. Right now Israel is seen as a better "friend" than Iran is and there is a real feeling of turning away from Iran.
Edit: quotation insertion.
Edited by w1891 4/14/2024 10:14
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Something has started - I guess someone was wrong about Iran
