Stratfor Evaluates Iran's New Weapons Systems

 

Despite the scary report in the Telegraph,A Stratfor (an analysis for fee service ) report, April 6, 2006, titled "Iran's New Weapons: More Flash Than Force?" concludes that, indeed, Iran's systems don't meet live up to hype and Iran is surrounded by better equipped and more powerful entities:

Even if all of these systems are as formidable as the Iranians claim, militarily, the Islamic republic is vastly outclassed by Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in terms of quality. In addition, the single most powerful military force in the Persian Gulf is the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, which would make short work of any Iranian attempt to block the Strait of Hormuz, probably before it could even begin.

The result:

Iranian exaggeration of these systems' capabilities has achieved exactly what it was intended to. These exercises, including video of some of the tests, were widely reported in the international media. Reports of Iran's "powerful" and supposedly indigenously designed weapons are meant to cause concern among the Gulf states and remind the United States that attacking Iran would come with a price.