WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th November, 2019) Iran's armed forces have improved over the past 20 to 30 years, but their equipment and technology remain well behind those of other significant military powers in the region, a new US Defense Department public report on Iranian military power said on Tuesday.
"Although still technologically inferior to most of its competitors, the Iranian military has progressed substantially over the past few decades," Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) head Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley said in the forward to the report.
Ashley pointed out that 21st century developments in the middle East had allowed Iran to increase its relative influence and leverage it more effectively.
"Tehran has played the cards dealt it by the fall of Saddam [Hussein], the uprising in Syria, the rise and retreat of ISIS [Islamic State terror group, outlawed in Russia] and the conflict in Yemen," Ashley said.
Iran has built its military power primarily to serve two important goals: ensuring the survival of the regime and secure a dominant position in the region, Ashley added.
