The struggle between the United States and Iran has lasted for nearly 40 years. In order to solve this "thorn in the side", the United States does everything it can: economic sanctions, oil embargo, military threats? Almost all means have been exhausted except war, but Iran has always stood firm. There have been demonstrations in Iran recently, and the United States thinks that the opportunity has come. Trump not only added fuel to the fire by sending tweets one after another, but also directly announced new sanctions against Iran. To the surprise of the United States, the civil strife in Iran is fierce and ebbing, but it is also rapid. A crisis with high hopes from the United States vanished in an instant, which fully shows that Iran has enough strength to face the American attack.

So where does Iran come from to challenge the United States?

There is a famous saying in geopolitics that "the strength of a country itself is deeply rooted in the land it lives in." Geographical location and the size of land area are undoubtedly the starting point for determining the priority objectives of a country's foreign policy. Iran is called "Eurasian Continental Bridge" and "East-West Air Corridor", with a land area of about 6,543.8+0,636 square kilometers and a population of nearly 70 million. This is a real Middle East power. Brzezinski used the term "active geostrategic player" to describe Iran in his book "The Great Chess", saying that Iran is "a country that has the ability and national will to use its power or influence outside its borders to change the existing geopolitical situation, thus affecting the interests of the United States".

Iran ranks fourth in oil reserves and second in natural gas reserves in the world, and its abundant energy resources provide strong support for economic development and national defense construction. More crucially, the Iranian-guarded the Strait of Hormuz, known as the "master valve of oil depot" in the Middle East, is the only waterway to enter the Gulf. Every year, nearly13 of oil is transported to all parts of the world through this strait. Because the east-west length of the Strait of Hormuz is about 150km and the average width is about 50km, it is easy to be blocked or cut off. Once this happens, it will inevitably lead to a surge in international oil prices and a serious blow to the global economy.

In fact, in the face of the military threat from the United States, Iran has from time to time released rhetoric of "blocking the the Strait of Hormuz" and conducted military exercises in the waters many times to show its control ability. Although the United States has repeatedly claimed that it has the ability to break Iran's blockade of this water area, it has repeatedly sent military forces in and out of this water area, demonstrating its ability to break Iran's blockade. However, this usual wrestling cannot replace the uncertain consequences of wartime. This card in Iran's hand has always made the United States afraid to launch a military strike against Iran.

Secondly, the strong military counterattack capability also gives Iran the strength to resist external security threats. Iran has a total force of more than 600,000 people, including 350,000 active troops and 250,000 mobilized troops. In addition, there are millions of militia units that can be put into battle. In addition, it has a vast territory, complex terrain and great war potential. In recent years, the Iranian army has devoted itself to the development, and the equipment of land, sea and air has been upgraded to varying degrees, and the national defense production capacity has also been strengthened.

At present, Iran has the most powerful missile arsenal in the Middle East, with the total number of active ballistic missiles exceeding 1500. It has the ability to strike in the medium and long range, and is a veritable "killer weapon" to deter the United States and Israel. In the "Great Prophet" series of military exercises, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard tested a variety of missiles, all of which "accurately hit the intended target". Iranian military officials publicly claimed that if Iran was attacked, it could "destroy the US military base in the Middle East in a few minutes".

The most striking thing in Iran's missile arsenal is the famous meteor series. If Meteor-1 and Meteor -2 are basically imitations and improvements of Russian Scud missiles, then Meteor -3 marks a major breakthrough in Iran's missile capabilities. After the successful launch of 1998 in July, it appeared in the Tehran military parade in September of that year. The words "Israel should disappear from the map" and "the United States will be helpless" on the missile indicate the pertinence of this missile.

It is generally estimated abroad that the range of Meteor -3 is about 1500-2000 km. This range is enough to strike US military bases in the Middle East, Israel and Central Europe. Meteor -4 and Meteor -5 developed by Iran in recent years use solid fuel engines, which have a longer range and have the properties of intercontinental missiles. What's more worth mentioning is that the "Shengli -3" missile developed by Iran not only has a longer range than the existing "Meteor -3", but also can avoid radar tracking, has high maneuverability, can avoid intercepting missiles, and has the ability to accurately strike multiple targets.

In addition to focusing on "Shengli -3" and "Meteor -3" which hit medium and long-range large military targets, what worries the US military more is the Iranian "Caussade" stealth shore-to-ship missile, which is said to have a range of 500 kilometers and is specially used to deal with fleets, aircraft carriers and strategic bombers. It adopts two modes of image navigation and radar navigation, which can avoid radar monitoring and can be re-implemented when it loses its locked target or flies over the target ship.

Although western countries have various doubts about the actual range and accuracy of Iranian missiles, Iran's huge missile arsenal is really a headache for the United States, the West and Israel. As we all know, Iran's overall military strength is far less than that of the United States, but with its geographical location and local advantages, the US military still cannot be taken lightly. This has also become the reason why it has been difficult for the United States to make up its mind to attack Iran for many years.

Third, Iran's national nature of a single nation and a single Sect makes it cohesive to face external pressure with the same enemy. In the "Greater Middle East Democracy Plan", Iran has always been an important goal of American transformation. After the drastic changes in the Middle East and North Africa, the United States seems to see the hope of changing the Iranian regime, trying to copy the model of "mass demonstrations-government repression-demonstration escalation-government collapse" staged in the Middle East and North Africa to Iran. In this regard, the United States has also invested heavily in supporting Iran's so-called democratic forces, strengthening Persian broadcasting and increasing student exchanges, and fostering opposition forces in order to seek Iran's peaceful evolution similar to the "Arab Spring" and erode the ruling foundation of hardliners. However, the effect of these plans in the United States is not obvious. The fundamental reason is that Iran is basically a country with a single nation and a single Sect. Religious forces have a great influence on the people, which can arouse and unite people's loyalty to the country and repel foreign forces. In addition, in the Middle East, where ethnic and religious contradictions are complex and acute, the Iranian Persian people have profoundly understood a truth in the long-term struggle for existence: only when the ethnic groups are United and strong can they not fall into oppression by other ethnic groups. The national cohesion formed by the combination of national consciousness, religious consciousness and anxiety consciousness not only increases Iran's resistance to the outside world, but also makes it difficult for external forces to find an opportunity.

The combination of the above factors not only gives Iran the confidence to challenge the United States, but also becomes the reason why the United States has no way to start with Iran for a long time. Therefore, in the Obama era, the Iranian nuclear issue has been partially resolved peacefully through multi-party negotiations. The trouble now is that Trump is too dissatisfied with Obama's Iraq policy and has repeatedly publicly stated that he will give up this agreement. Trump's new Middle East policy has two remarkable characteristics, one is his strong support for Israel, and the other is his tough stance towards Iran. Based on these two points, Trump will obviously not give up the opportunity to take advantage of Iran's domestic problems, and the actions of the United States will undoubtedly encourage Israel, Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries hostile to Iran to show more strength to Iran. In this way, a new round of chaos in the Middle East is likely to be staged on 20 18.

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