Posted on 08/18/2004 12:42:01 PM PDT by HAL9000
Iran Warns Of Preemptive Strike To Prevent Attack On Nuclear Sites
DOHA, Aug 18 (AFP) - Iranian Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani warned Wednesday that Iran might launch a preemptive strike against US forces in the region to prevent an attack on its nuclear facilities.
"We will not sit (with arms folded) to wait for what others will do to us. Some military commanders in Iran are convinced that preventive operations which the Americans talk about are not their monopoly," Shamkhani told Al-Jazeera TV when asked if Iran would respond to an American attack on its nuclear facilities.
"America is not the only one present in the region. We are also present, from Khost to Kandahar in Afghanistan; we are present in the Gulf and we can be present in Iraq," said Shamkhani, speaking in Farsi to the Arabic-language news channel through an interpreter.
"The US military presence (in Iraq) will not become an element of strength (for Washington) at our expense. The opposite is true, because their forces would turn into a hostage" in Iranian hands in the event of an attack, he said.
Shamkhani, who was asked about the possibility of an American or Israeli strike against Iran`s atomic power plant in Bushehr, added: "We will consider any strike against our nuclear installations as an attack on Iran as a whole, and we will retaliate with all our strength.
"Where Israel is concerned, we have no doubt that it is an evil entity, and it will not be able to launch any military operation without an American green light. You cannot separate the two."
A commander of Iran`s elite Revolutionary Guards was quoted in the Iranian press earlier Wednesday as saying that Tehran would strike the Israeli reactor at Dimona if Israel attacks the Islamic republic`s own burgeoning nuclear facilities.
"If Israel fires one missile at Bushehr atomic power plant, it should permanently forget about Dimona nuclear center, where it produces and keeps its nuclear weapons, and Israel would be responsible for the terrifying consequence of this move," General Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr warned.
Iran`s controversial bid to generate nuclear power at its plant being built at Bushehr is seen by arch-enemies Israel and the United States as a cover for nuclear weapons development.
The latest comments mark an escalation in an exchange of threats between Israel and Iran in recent weeks, leading to speculation that there may be a repeat of Israel`s strike against Iraqi nuclear facilities at Osirak in 1981.
Iran insists that its nuclear intentions are peaceful, while pointing at its enemy`s alleged nuclear arsenal, which Israel neither confirms nor denies possessing.
Dimona, in the Negev desert, is allegedly where Israel produces weapons-grade plutonium for its estimated 200 nuclear warheads.
Thanks for the belly laugh.
I recall watching Israel go into Yasir Arafats compound with bulldozers yet, and scratch, punch holes and play peek-a-bob with that clown in his building for a freaking week. That was a real comedy.
That boy ain't too bright.
Ah yes but the flight path that their F-15s would have to take would put them over Iraq and we control those skies right now. It'd be better for them to coordinate so as to avoid accidents, They indeed would need our "Identification Friend or Foe" Freq's for that mission!
Kennison also said "Never mess with a country(U.S.A.) who put cameras on their bombs"...so we can watch em over and over again!
Yeah, and it'll do them a lot of good when we've destroyed their command capabilities before they can get them in the air.
Bring it, Mullah.
A lucrative target. Hope they stand still.
when did bagdad "BOB" go to work for iran
Ah yes.... VERY good point!
LMAO!
They haven't been practicing rapid maneuvers have they? Well, they can dig in. That worked real well for Iraq.
Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran...
Bring it, dirtbag.
OK, that cracked me up!
Glad to be here, MOgirl
OK, that cracked me up!
Glad to be here, MOgirl
I take it these guys have thanatos!
1. Rockets - What about them? We have rockets too. Lots and lots of really good rockets. We test them all the time (we own the oceans). We have the satellites, we have the intel assets and we have the strategic advantage. We can hit them from any angle in the world.
Unfortunately for the mullahs, our rockets and bombers can reach them anytime, from anywhere. How far can they fire a rocket? How many times? What's the actual capability and payload of their hot-rodded scuds? What are their precision targeting capabilities? What happens when their launch sites are all destroyed?
2. Propaganda - Yes, the Iranians can back up their threat to make trouble in A'stan and Iraq, somewhat.
Here's what it means: They can create tactical problems through infiltration and support of internal forces in both countries but they can't change the strategic picture (which is the basis of their threat) because, as you note, they are not on a military par with the US and will not risk open war.
3. Rain of hellfire - somewhat: No joke pard. Maybe you imagine a US response to an Iranian provocation as some all encompassing Armageddon. I don't. As was obvious during Operation Iraqi Freedom, the US has the capability to attack in measures. That means the ability to control the tempo and to control the target list. The Iraqis lost control of their assests through destruction and confusion. They lost the ability to react effectively because they didn't know what the hell was going on.
The Iranians would face that same problem if they decided to try to force their way into Iraq or A'stan. How long before they cease to become an effective fighting force under those circumstances?
Outcome: Rain of hellfire, somewhat, to the point that Iran could not field a cohesive fighting force. We ain't Iraq circa 1980.
4. Yes, they wear diapers on their heads. That is exactly their problem. If you think otherwise, make a case where some muslim army has defeated a western army sometime since the middle ages.
5. Go back to sleep. The mullahs days are numbered and they know it.
if you have to know about iranian military...here my bit from memory
well they have around 500,000 troops with the majority who are conscripted. the regieme is wary of these guys so equipment levels will be questionable.
the revolutionary guards has about 130,000 men. it looks like a division is about 10,000 to 12,000 or less but these are the equivalent of the republican guard division. to behonest, the size of a division is all over the place here..leading to very peculiary lob sides activities i.e. you have to know exactly which division you are deploying as you cant assume anything. they are okay at large scale initial logistics..incidentally something saddam republican guard was also. an example is he moved an entire division from south of mosul to engage the 101st (a very bad mistake as it happens ) before/during the sand storm in the last war. from memory they moved this division in a couple of days..no small feat, considering the air threat. however, they did loose nearly every tank they had in the following 24 hours from apache chopper and air strikes once the sandstorm relaxed..also the 101st nearly wiped this division out on the ground (we were never told the exact iraqi casualty rate, so i suspect it was huge, particularly when the words decimated and 'cease to exist as a force' were used)-- again i do this from memory so if im wrong and named the wrong division-- ..oops sorry).
the revolutionary guards work seperately from the army (but can be incorporated) as they are used as a religious force in case of military coup. one area of weakness is on sustained logistics front i am sure i read somewhere that food and water and ammunition (again from memory) for sustaining large scale operations was terrible in the iran/iraq war...hence the suicide charges against saddam (kids in minefields etc etc etc). I seem to recall they are good at artillery support but that could have been iraq rather then iran)
the weakness of iran is as per iraq. they are very poor on independent battlefield strategy, hence the massacres of troops between iran and iraq. field officers are of questionable authority and are trained to follow a strict command structure. they do not act well indepedently which incidently is an enormous strenght of the US military, worht way more then any battery of cruise missiles. US officers are given an objective but also are given local authority allowing for specific localised decisions depending on circumstances. the iranians worked well in large battlefield groups and would be definitely vulnerable to modern tactics -- typically trained in older USSR field strategies. this lack of independent thought also leads to a dissapation of battlefield strategy as the battle progresses. reminds me of the saying 'everyone has a plan until you get hit'. so once the battle begins yuo could expect a day or so of iranian gains ( only assuming a sneak attack) followed by poor coordination of troops as the fog of war sets in and this mixed with poor medium/long term logisitcal support is a killer blow to front line troops, even allah will put his head in his hands with this one. they will be very vulnerable to coordinated strikes using multipes resources, something again the US military specilaise in. expect huge US problems with prisoners, as in the number to deal with e.g. gulf war 1. expect huge issue with the 72 virgin supply with the death rate....
they do have teams of women trained for suicide runs but that could be propaganda.
they have 2 diesel submarines (however their field of operations is limited) but they should not be underestimated, however they are not field tested. i was not aware as one poster was that they have missile capabilities. they have about 300 choppers of which 100 are classed as attack. please bear in mind, the definition of attack chopper here is an ordinary chopper with rockets...dont think apache. there might be a few exceptions to this where they have acquired some reasonable russian stuff. their training and night fighting capabilities i am unsure of.
they have about 200 fighters (again old ) except for some fairly recent russian stuff (e.g. flanker but thats from memory) quite a bit of old US stock but these have to be vulnerable to spare parts issues. their air tactics are poor. be aware that they also have a couple of squadrons of iraqi fighters from the first gulf war that the iraqis flew there and they refused to return. i think the number is about 70 fighters and they were fairly recent stock from ussr. i also recall that they were not good at dogfighting compared to the iraqis.
they do have a spec ops group -- i suspect they will specilaise is suicide runs. dont think delta (assuming they exist of course ;), or seals), think well armed, reasonably well trained moron...also i suspect a few delta guys are looking for payback as the carter debacle was 'allegdely' one of the first large scale delta missions..again if incorrect apologies..
they do have a fair number of chinese anti ship missiles (the silkwork) the iraqis fired one or two of these at kuwait city you will recall)
most of their equipment is based on 1980's designs (as in production 1980, which really means 1970's) and some latter 1990 stuff, from the USSR mainly. A lot of their US stuff they purchased in the 70's (when the shah was in control) has suffered from a spare parts problem. this incidently has led to a huge illegal trade in used parts as it happens.
they have 2000 or so older tanks. t55 and that class, some old US and UK stock from the shahs time. someone else said here they had developed their own..i was not aware of that. they will use mass formation attacks, similar to the iraqi republican guard...i for one would not like to be one of these guys....again this is the old USSR tactic for taking europe.
they have a lot of 70's russian missile technology. you will hear the familiar drone of the only ground to ground missile that is actually lucky to find and hit the earth..yes the scud is back..they used to lob these at baghdad during the war. i read recently they have developed with n korea and the pakistani scientist shah, how to load, nukes. they probably have some fairly recent chinese missiles as well..
they have a large reserve force of irregular army. would be of little battlefield use, but probably would be used for town defense, a bit like the saddams irrelegulars, fedayeen.
i agree witha previous poster..they will forment (well they are currently) partisan attacks at the rear due to the religious thing. personally the influx of iranians into najaf over the last year has raised my eye brow a time or two and i was very suprised when the support for iraq at the money conference was given in 'tourism'. hmmm tourists from iran...the term 'suuuurrreeee' jumped into my mind with that little beauty.
so if anyone else knows anything more..and if igot some stuff wrong apologies...i typed from memory...hence the spelling LOL!!!
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