JOINT BASE ANACOSTIA-BOLLING, D.C. –
The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) today released “Iran Military Power,” an intelligence product that examines the core capabilities of Iran's military.
This volume in DIA's series of military power reports provides details on Iran's defense and military goals, strategy, plans, and intentions. It examines the organization, structure and capability of the military supporting those goals, as well as the enabling infrastructure and industrial base.
“As Tehran expands its capabilities and role as both an unconventional and conventional threat in the Middle East, it is more important than ever that we understand Iran’s military power and the threat it poses to our interests, our allies, and our own security,” Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Robert P. Ashley, Jr. said in his introduction.
Throughout its 40-year history, the Islamic Republic of Iran has remained implacably opposed to the United States and its presence in the Middle East. Iran has built its military power primarily to serve two important goals: ensuring the survival of the regime and securing a dominant position in the region.
“Iran sees itself as closer than ever to achieving its goals, Ashley said. “Tehran has played the cards dealt it by the fall of Saddam, the uprising in Syria, the rise and retreat of ISIS, and the conflict in Yemen.”
“By applying a rigorous lessons-learned process during decades of conflict in the Middle East, Iran has adapted its military capabilities and doctrine to account for developments by the United States and its allies. Although still technologically inferior to most of its competitors, the Iranian military has progressed substantially over the past few decades,” Ashley added.
The military power series of unclassified overviews is designed to help the public achieve a deeper understanding of key challenges and threats to U.S. national security and focus on near-peer competitors and challengers such as Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.
"This product and other reports in this series are intended to inform our public, our leaders, the national security community, and partner nations about the challenges we face in the 21st century," Ashley said.
DIA has a long history of producing comprehensive and authoritative defense intelligence overviews. In 1981, DIA published the first unclassified “Soviet Military Power” report, which was translated into eight languages and distributed around the world.
Two years ago, in the spirit of “Soviet Military Power,” DIA decided to once again produce and publish unclassified defense intelligence overviews of the major foreign military challenges we face.
LINK to report: https://www.dia.mil/Military-Power-Publications/
DIA’s mission is to provide intelligence on foreign militaries to prevent and decisively win wars.
DIA officers are united in a common vision – to be the indispensable source of defense intelligence expertise for the nation. For 58 years, DIA has met the full range of security challenges faced by the United States. DIA intelligence officers operate across the globe, supporting customers from forward-deployed warfighters to national policymakers