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Terrain, how does that work

and infinity times more hills

I'm told they're exceptionally polite, so I assume there will be no unpleasantness.

👏😃 Very well done!

And just a touch of the plague?

Alexander the Great still underrated.

Alexander defeated the Persians outside of Iran. His "invasion" was a mop up operation which was more about convincing/intimidating the satraps into changing sides.

"But Hollywood told me the Middle East was nothing but deserts and camels and oil and shit!" - the people running the US

"It's easy, just drop our WarfightersTM in from the sky! They're so manly and not woke at all, just like the Russian VDV!"

'sorry they have -how many - natural nuclear-tier bunkers?' It's basically a case study in 'what not to invade by force' coupled with 'and how would you possibly occupy it'.

"Terrain? So you're saying it's an air assault mission. got it" :)

“Hmm, how do you say “Wolverines!” in Farsi?”

Also shielded by mountains from the north, in case Russia gets any ideas

there are easier ways to get caramelized rice (said as a compliment, persian food slaps)

"Sorry, you said a battalion per city block?"

The only thing that can get you across those mountains are LPCs Leather personal carriers

"I am not invited but i still want to decline."

Anyone who's played Civ can tell you want a great, defensible location this is for a capitol city.

www.cato.org/commentary/g...

We'll win because there is no jungle for them to "melt" into. Lol.

"Has anyone tried a lightning war against the regime when it looked weak?" "Yes, it lasted for 8 years and decimated both countries"

It was more that the Hyrcanian forests are dense as shit. So even if you somehow get permission to invade through them it’s gonna be Vietnam 2.0.

"Why We Don't Fuck With Natural Fortresses"

much bigger piles of corpses and much bigger expense

Yes, but for me it’s about time. They’ll do this for a thousand years (no joke), while Americans have quarterly earning statements and midterm elections to fret over.

They have also been supplying drones to the Russians invading Ukraine, which might put them in a position to ask, "besides what we can get from their propaganda, what have they been doing to cause you the most pain?"

I’m convinced that for most Americans, Iraq and Iran are mostly indistinguishable. Their names are similar, located next to each other, and have had unfriendly regimes going back decades. They think that invading Iran is gonna go as well as the initial phase of the Iraq War.

and they've been selling drones to the Russians, which I'm sure got them extra insight on what can cause an invading force maximum pain and frustration.

And lots and lots of mountains, and a much higher degree of cultural cohesion than Iraq.

Regime change in Iran

yes.

It'll start on 9/11/26

The Donner (Trump) party

the entire point of the IRGC and artesh is THIS conflict. the regime built its entire military strategy around THIS SPECIFIC KIND OF WAR

yeah like this is *the* conflict the regime built itself to fight and survive

How dare you confuse Nickelodeon’s many game shows for reality slop?

And don’t forget that if war is expensive enough it might topple your regime for starting it maybe not at the moment but a few years down the line

Don't think I realized how rough the terrain is until now

When the idea of a Japanese mainland invasion was considered in the late stages of WWII, it was hypothesized that there could be up to 4 MILLION American casualties. Okinawa alone produced about 50K, with 12K dead - one of which was my grandfather.

Oh. And did we mention mountains? Lots of mountains.

Pretty clear from the Greenland tantrums that the old man does not understand how maps work

Ever read Sword Point? Was meant to be fun 80s fiction…..

and oh so many more mountains

Same guys want us up here to turn off the wild fires

It was hard enough fighting Iran from next door when we weren't even at war with them.

Or to put it another way, roughly half the land area and population of the United States itself. It would not be an easy fight and we should never have picked it.

It's the Middle East's Afghanistan!

More like Iclimb, eh? Eh? Hello?

Plus it;s shaped like a combo of cat about to pounce and a crazy rooster

Plus land borders with seven (!) countries, and close proximity to a bunch of major oil and gas exporters

Iran fell pretty easy when I conquered it as Oirat in EU4. How hard can it be?

"imagine Afghanistan if there were 94,000,000 Afghans and 2,000,000 Taliban"

And mostly on the same side, instead of playing both ends against the middle 24/7.

Duh! Now the question is, how dumb is Kegseth?

When it comes to American adventurism, what's the difference between Kabul and Tehran? Ans: They are only one Kushner away from each other.

But luckily thanks to its successful warfighting in Iraq and Afghanistan the US now has complete control of those two countries and can use them to attack Iran from both sides in a classic pincer manoeuvre.

Can't help but wonder what would have happened if they had diplomats leading the diplomatic efforts instead of a bunch of incompetent Friends of Don with no negotiating skills. On the other hand, getting militarily involved with Iran was simply nuts and every sensible person knew it.

Also from this map Iraq looks like an eight-lane highway in every direction and Iran looks like the Patagonian wilderness.

Oops all mountains

The sheer size of Iran is a very good reason why the US would be foolish to invade; but also the US has in no way prepared for the reality of drone warfare and Iran has a *lot* of drones. We all saw Russia get swiss-cheesed by drones in Ukraine, it's going to be the same thing here.

How well did it work to chase the Taliban up the mountains in Afghanistan? Really well, right? There aren't any Taliban around anymore, right?

man if only we had years of intelligence analysis, war games, research, exercises, and expert advice to let us know that this was a bad idea. hang on I'm being handed a note