Is a war with Iran imminent?

[MODU]

If war with Iran is indeed imminent, then so is the return of the draft, for without it we cannot simultaneously fight Iraqi insurgents and Iranian Revolutionary Guards pouring across the border to annhilate (sp?) American military units. 

Iran can't advance ground troops into Iraq unless Iran controls the air.  And we all know who controls the air.

That did not stop North Vietnam from supplying men and material to Viet Cong insurgents, even when we expanded that war to include the adjacent countries of Laos and Cambodia. 

Yup, and a large proportion of those troops were killed due to coordinated air strikes via bombers and helicopters.  They did benefit from portable SAMs and dense cover, making it difficult for US air craft at that time.  Iran would not be able to benefit as much due to less natural cover and improved anti-missile technology in our aircraft.

[Frodo]

Oh, and jmfcst -would you (or at least the moderator, if you don't know how to do it) mind shortening your link?  It is stretching out this thread, making harder to read.

Thanks. 

[Colin]

Well I certainly do not hope that it is imminent since a War in Iran would be serious endeavour and we would be faced with problems in the rear, from Iraq, for the entire length of the war.

It would most likely be a two pronged attack from both Afghanistan and Iraq. The border with Afghanistan is moutainous and desert terrain. There are lowland areas around the Lut Desert and along the coast. Overall, much like Afghanistan, its bad terrain for tanks.

I could also imagine amphibious assaults on Iranian side of the Strait of Hormuz to neutralize any Iranian surface presence and keep the Straits open to American shipping. This would have to include fighting and taking the city of Bandar Abbas.

In the west along the Iraqi border the tactics would be very similar to Hussein's strategy in the first drive of the Iran-Iraq War with the main goal being the capturing of major oil fields in the plain around Ahvaz in Khuzestan. The problem though is that then there is a major mountain range, the Zagros, between this plain and Tehran which will slow down an advance.

As for ethnicities and minorities well it's pretty bad. While Iran is majority Persian it also includes groups like the Baluchis, Azeris and Kurds that could make this even more of a mess. All in all it would make Iraq look easy by comparison.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Since if we did get into a war with Iran, the Iraqi government would likely tell us to get out the country, maybe this is Bush's strategy for getting out of Iraq.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Since if we did get into a war with Iran, the Iraqi government would likely tell us to get out the country, maybe this is Bush's strategy for getting out of Iraq.

Oh, thats real nice, playing a game of Human Risk.  Okay, after we get through with Iran lets move back into Afghanistan, then into Pakistan, then India, then Bangladesh, then Nepal, then China, then North Korea, then Japan, and then into Russia, then into Alaska, you get the picture.  Great!! Wonderful Strategy.  Hey, Maybe after we can deploy some of our forces to Saudi Arabia, then to Egypt, then to Somalia, then to Sudan.  Then we can fortify back to Israel to prevent the invasion of the Greeks and the Romanians.  Heck, lets just nuke the entire world and wipe out the entire middle east minus Israel and the entire Southeast Asia region, and wipe out the Frenchies, and annihilate the North Koreans.

OK, I'll stop now.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

Oh, thats real nice, playing a game of Human Risk.  Okay, after we get through with Iran lets move back into Afghanistan, then into Pakistan, then India, then Bangladesh, then Nepal, then China, then North Korea, then Japan, and then into Russia, then into Alaska, you get the picture.  Great!! Wonderful Strategy.  Hey, Maybe after we can deploy some of our forces to Saudi Arabia, then to Egypt, then to Somalia, then to Sudan.  Then we can fortify back to Israel to prevent the invasion of the Greeks and the Romanians.  Heck, lets just nuke the entire world and wipe out the entire middle east minus Israel and the entire Southeast Asia region, and wipe out the Frenchies, and annihilate the North Koreans.

Dude, your priorities are skewed.  After Iran, we head straight to France!

[Colin]

Since if we did get into a war with Iran, the Iraqi government would likely tell us to get out the country, maybe this is Bush's strategy for getting out of Iraq.

Oh, thats real nice, playing a game of Human Risk.

Damn it, the Iraqi insugents just rolled two 6s.