With Washington reportedly considering flexing its military muscles against Tehran, Iranian General Kioumars Heidari stressed that his country’s army currently “stands at the highest level of combat readiness and defense capability.”
Heidari most likely referred to the Iranian Armed Forces as a whole.
Iranian Armed Forces
The Iranian Armed Forces are known to be the largest in the Middle East (and the seventh largest in the world) in terms of active troops, who currently number about 587,000 active-duty personnel, according to open sources. An additional 200,000 reserve personnel brings Iran’s total military manpower to about 787,000.
The Iranian Armed Forces comprise the army, also known as Artesh, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (Sepah) and the Law Enforcement Force (Faraja). The current commander-in-chief of the armed forces is Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Iranian Army
The goal of the 310,000-strong army is to protect the territorial integrity of the country from external and internal threats and to project power.
The Artesh’s own Joint Staff coordinates its four separate service branches, which include
· ground forces
· air force,
· navy
· air defense force.
The Iranian Army is divided into four military districts, and each such district comprises
· four motorized divisions
· six infantry divisions
· six artillery divisions
· two special forces units
· one airborne division
· an aviation group
· several logistics brigades.
Artesh's Military Equipment
The Iranian Army possesses domestically-made military hardware and ones manufactured in Russia, the US and the UK.
Ground equipment includes:
· 1,634 tanks (the Zulfiqar, the T-72, M60A1, the Chieftain)
· 2,345 armored personnel carriers (M113A1/M577, Sarir)
· 870 multiple launch rocket systems (Fajr-5, BM-21 “Grad”)
· 670 infantry fighting vehicles (BMP-2)
· 1,800 howitzers (GHN-45, M101A1)
· 1,670 artillery installations (from HM-12 to HM-16).
When it comes to the air force, among Iran's 300 or so combat aircraft are Russian-, American-, and Chinese-made warplanes, such as the MiG-29, the F14 and the J7, respectively.
Iran's naval equipment includes the Russian Kilo-class submarines, domestically and British-made frigates and destroyers, as well as Chinese and French-made missile boats.
Notably, almost all Iranian drones, such as the Karrar, the Mohajer-6 and the Shahed 149, are domestically made and were earlier reportedly tested in various armed conflicts. It is estimated that Iran's Aerospace Force has more than 200 drones in service
Ranking Iran's Military Power
Global Firepower Index, an online military ranking website, earlier ranked Iran 13 in the world out of 136 countries.
The website’s listing is based on more than 50 factors including war-making potential in conventional (non-nuclear) forces, troops, geography and finance.
A few years ago, CNN cited military experts as pointing out that although Iran’s military arsenal may be no match for the US in terms of technology and firepower, Tehran makes up for it with tactics and numbers in strategic places.