Could Iran Do This?

I bet this question has probably been asked on some old post, but here goes anyway. Let's say a war starts and it does come down to a serious ground war between the US and Iran. The US wants to occupy south Iran, so could Iran overwhelm the US with its Basij forces. I think there are like 7-10 million of them. Isn't that what China did in North Korea? On the other hand weapons and battle tactics and strategies have advanced since then, so would it work?

Originally posted by NeoQuest
I bet this question has probably been asked on some old post, but here goes anyway. Let's say a war starts and it does come down to a serious ground war between the US and Iran. The US wants to occupy south Iran, so could Iran overwhelm the US with its Basij forces. I think there are like 7-10 million of them. Isn't that what China did in North Korea? On the other hand weapons and battle tactics and strategies have advanced since then, so would it work?

Lol, that's a first; comparing a possible war with Iran to the Korean War.

In the winter of '51, the UN forces were stretched out all across the length of North Korea, with forces being seperated by the geography of the area (e.g. mountainous terrain), and the weather helped mask the Chinese force's movements around the flanks of UN forces as well as hampering communication and air power capabilities. No-one wanted to accept the possibility that the Chinese would actually take on the UN forces...which, of course, they did.

I personally don't think so. Granted, we probably would take significant casualties on our side. But assuming that your numbers are correct, and I have no clue whether they are or not, that looks like a lot of troops that we could target with advanced artillary, air strikes, etc.

I think a prolonged ground war is the last thing we'd want in Iran. I believe our military guys would want to soften them up from the air on a level never before seen in warfare before we put anykind of significant troop numbers on the ground. But that's just my guess at 20 minutes till midnight on a Thursday evening. So I'm not really operating at all cylinders.

The USA would smoke Iran. The airforce would blow Iran away.

But I'm looking at it like the Iranians throw these troops at iraq, and along with the iraqi resistence they attempt to repel an American invasion. Maybe even get afghanistan involved, heck if you through in syria you have a problem.

Iran could "try". Way futile. I suspect fission type N-Strikes against Iran - no ground war or at least not with boots on the ground. More like the airport at the Battle of Bagdad - Neutron devices?

Originally posted by NeoQuest
But I'm looking at it like the Iranians throw these troops at iraq, and along with the iraqi resistence they attempt to repel an American invasion. Maybe even get afghanistan involved, heck if you through in syria you have a problem.

Thats a good observation. I never really thought of a war from Iran from that angle. I just always thought if the USA attacks Iran there would be no ground war just air strikes. If Iran did that and got other countries involved and took the war outside there borders that could cause some hassel on the states. Smart thinkin.

The US wants to occupy south Iran, so could Iran overwhelm the US with its Basij forces. I think there are like 7-10 million of them. Isn't that what China did in North Korea? On the other hand weapons and battle tactics and strategies have advanced since then, so would it work?

China did that when they were on par with the U.S. as far as military technology is concerned, 50 years ago.

In todays world, it won't work. A starving Army can't fight. Crops are top on the list for B-52's.

I know this post is on Iran, but bombing Chinese rice fields is the plan should a direct confrotation occur.

[edit on 7-4-2006 by crisko]