What will happen in a war between the U.S and Iran?

Question

What is Iran's Military like?

Answer 1

For a country of its size, Iran has a formidable military.
http://www.globalfirepower.com/country_detail.asp?country_id=25

Under the "divinely guided" leadership of their commander-in-chief- and Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, the Islamic Republic of Iran has two kinds of armed forces: the regular forces and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), totalling about 545,000 personnel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran/Military

Military branches:
Islamic Republic of Iran Regular Forces (Artesh): Ground Forces, Navy, Air Force (Niruye Havayi Jomhuriye Islamiye Iran; includes air defense); Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (Sepah-e Pasdaran-e Enqelab-e Eslami, IRGC): Ground Forces, Navy, Air Force, Qods Force (special operations), and Basij Force (Popular Mobilization Army); Law Enforcement Forces (2007)
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ir.html#Military
http://www.iiss.org/index.asp?pgid=7026

The Shahab-3, Fajr-5 and Zelzel missiles are among the effective weapons in their arsenal (aside from the soldiers who are willing to be martyrs).
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iran/2007/iran-070121-rferl01.htm
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iran/weapons.htm
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iran/index.html

Iran's stealth drone
http://www.iranmilitaryforum.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=150&Itemid=54
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n105439

Notwithstanding-----> Iran is in a heap of trouble.....

Iran is dealing with two issues. First, Iran has captured 15 British sailors. Second, Iran has refused to cooperate with the U.N. regarding cessation of uranium enrichment.

Military confrontation may be on the horizon.
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=3961
In addition to the British naval vessels at the Diego Garcia atoll in the Indian ocean, there is a multi-national force in the Persian Gulf. The British HMS Cornwall aircraft carrier strike group, the American aircraft carrier strike group Bremerton-based aircraft carrier CVN-74 USS John C. Stennis, the American aircraft carrier strike group USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and the French nuclear carrier Charles de Gaulle and its task force are all in close appoximation in the Persian Gulf. The CVN-68 USS Nimitz may also be in the Persian Gulf as it was scheduled for its WESTPAC07 deployment to replace the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/navy/batgru-68.htm

More details about military options can be found here:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iran-strikes.htm

Iran has elicited "confessions" from the 15 British sailors they captured and may put them on trial for espionage. The penalty for espionage in Iran is death.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article1563877.ece
“If it is proven that they deliberately entered Iranian territory, they will be charged with espionage. If that is proven, they can expect a very serious penalty since according to Iranian law, espionage is one of the most serious offences.” Espionage carries a death sentence.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6493391.stm
Iran's detention of 15 Royal Navy personnel is "unjustified and wrong", Prime Minister Tony Blair has said. UK officials are waiting to be granted access to the HMS Cornwall staff, who were seized on Friday, and have not been told where the group are held.

"It simply is not true that they went into Iranian territorial waters and I hope the Iranian government understands how fundamental an issue this is for us," Mr Blair said.

"We have certainly sent the message back to them very clearly indeed. They should not be under any doubt at all about how seriously we regard this act, which is unjustified and wrong."

On March 23, 2007, U.S. and British officials said a boarding party from the frigate HMS Cornwall was seized about during a routine inspection of a merchant ship inside Iraqi territorial waters near the disputed Shatt al-Arab waterway.

The seizure of two Royal Navy inflatable boats took place just outside the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab waterway, a 125-mile channel dividing Iraq from Iran. Its name means Arab Coastline in Arabic, and Iranians call it Arvandrud - Persian for Arvand River. A 1975 treaty recognized the middle of the waterway as the border.

Iranians send arms to Iraqi extremists, including sophisticated roadside bombs. This week, two commanders of an Iraqi Shiite militia told The Associated Press in Baghdad that hundreds of Iraqi Shiites had crossed into Iran for training by the elite Quds force, a branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guard thought to have trained Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.

Regarding enrichment of uranium, Iranian President Mahmaoud Ahmadinejad abruptly cancelled his appearance before the U.N. security council and in his stead, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki Iran spoke. He indicated that Iran was willing to continue negotiations but without the precondition that uranium enrichment must be halted.

Mottaki said, "the world has two options to proceed on the nuclear issue: continued negotiations or confrontation. Choosing the path of confrontation ... will have its own consequences. "
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070325/D8O3E7J00.html

The U.N. security council unanimously voted to expand sanctions on March 24, 2007.

The new resolution 1747 calls on Iran to comply fully with all previous UN resolutions and join negotiations to reach agreement so as to restore international confidence in the peaceful nature of its nuclear program. Full transparency and cooperation with the IAEA are required. Suspension of Iran’s banned nuclear activities will elicit the parallel suspension of sanctions. The package of incentives offered Tehran last year for its cooperation remains on the table.

The full text of the draft of resolution 1747 appears at this website:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6455853.stm
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Answer 2

I think that if a war is to break out between the U.S and Iran the U.S will definitely win. Yes the Iranians are claiming so many things like they will retaliate and attack with all their might but I think that's just nervous talk. If war were to break out first of all the U.S has the best technology compare to Iran and they could just bomb them into submission. I truly believe the U.S already has an idea of all Iran's military camps or headquarters and Air Force fields and so on so sending B-2 Stealth bombers will definitely cause thousands of casualties on Iran. Yes Iranian are stuborn and won't give up but so was Japan during World War 2 and as soon as they dropped 2 nuclear weapons they surrendered. I am not saying to drop a nuclear weapon on Iran but all I am saying is that after being bomb so harshly they won't put up a fight and as long as the U.S don't stay there policing Iran like we are doing in Iraq there won't be hardly any calsualties on the U.S side just like in the gulf war. Because if you look at it the Iraqi army did not put up a fight they surrendered easily but whats causing the U.S problems is the fact that we are policing the country so as long as we don't do that in Iran we are ok. As far as Syria joining the fight if they do then Israel will join and the same fate will be on Syria as Iran. Besides no one else will back Iran up except Syria and on the U.S side you will definitely have England, Israel and other countries who contributed troops to Iraq.

Answer 3

The US would need to take out Iran's nuclear facility along with it's air power and air defenses. More than likely this would be done with missiles by day, and stealth bombers at night.
The US has depleated many of it's ground forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, which makes the US more dangerous to an enemy such as this, not less dangerous.

The US has some pretty awesome air power that has gone virtually untapped in these current skirmishes. It has already planned it's strategy in the event of war with Iran, or any other country that decides it wants to butt heads.

That's why we pay the Pentagon big bucks. It's job is to anticipate, plan, prepare, and execute military action against any hostile country that has an axe to grind with the US.

Understand one thing about ground forces. The US hasn't even begun to tap into the vast number of resources it has available, should the need arise. That is, the 300 million citizens of this land, that are just dying to do their part, should the need arise !

Answer 4

There will not be a war between the U.S.A. and Iran. At the least, the British will have a stake in it. Other civilized nations will be involved but probably not the French. The French are finished and will become a subservient state of a muslim nation. They showed the world they had no intestinal fortitude and they are done. I think Iran showed aggression they are not ready to back up.

Answer 5

They will lose, eventually. If push comes to shove, America is the only country to ever use nuclear weapons on her enemies, and we dropped TWO of them in WWII. If the same situation arises, we will be forced to drop one on Iran.

Iran should really think about that, maybe we won't strike out in full force, but we could place a nice little low-yield nuke right on top of their growing nuclear facilities and keep doing that until they run out of money. Of course a few Russian technicians might die, but remember the scene in Clerks where they have the debate about the destruction of the second Death Star? The technicians there are expendable, and they know the risks of working to build weapons of mass destruction - or they should anyway.

That is my theory, we will first engage them with talks until it gets to be push or shove time, then the President will release a statement that our jets have leveled their facilities. If Iran then wants a full-scale war, we could just say, no thanks and keep blasting their facilities until they are broke.

Failing that, we could go into a conventional war where millions of people will die, you do the math, which is better?

Answer 6

It doesn't matter what Irans military is like its going to be more of what is chinas and russias military like. They get there oil from Iran, I'm willing to guess they wouldn't appreciate the US taking control of their oil supplies.

Answer 7

it is unquestionably greater so between Israel and Iran. yet we, the U.S. are being pushed alongside in the debacle with the aid of good Israeli impression interior of our very own government. in basic terms inspect who're advising President Obama...and the products will come jointly like a puzzle.

Answer 8

Depends if the US are allowed to fight it as a real war or a "politically correct one". A real war and it would be over in weeks like the Gulf War, if the military is handcuffed like Iraq it will drag on for years and we'd probably lose.

Answer 9

We'll get our everlovin' hind end kicked the way we're getting trampled in Afghanistan and Iraq.

After reading the book LIVING IN HELL by Ghazal Omid, I believe that country's culture is a danger to all living things.
The author said the Iranian President promised his people he would go to war with the USA.
Now he must in order to stay in power!

Answer 10

If you think we lost a lot of men in Iraq, expect ten times that if we fight Iran. They have a very modern military, and are tenacious fighters. They lost over a million men fighting Iraq in the 1980s. they think nothing of dying for their country.
They have advanced weaponry, rockets, missiles and probably already have nukes.
Many US soldiers will die.

Answer 11

We are already fighting Iran, in Iraq.

but Gates said we wouldn't go to war with Iran, but wait, he's a bush boy talking out both sides his wazzooo, I mean mouth.