Originally Posted by TopHatter

Except that Iran is not tweaking the tail of a 2nd-3rd World military, now are they?

They are directly confronting the West (i.e. most of the NATO membership)

In addition, they are showing off their conventional "might". Not a good idea to confront nations like the U.S., Great Britain, France, Germany etc. with conventional military power.

The United States may not have done a super-duper job in Iraq when it came to occupying and securing it, but it blasted through it's conventional forces (not once, but twice) like a combine through a wheat field.

AGAINST VASTLY INSUPERIOR ARMOUR AND TROOPS , THE USA AND U/K HAD NO PROBLEMS , BUT THE INSURGENCY IS A TOTALLY DIFFERENT KETTLE OF FISH .but by all reports we are coming through , fingers crossed

Bragging about your converntional military "might" in this context is just plain propaganda for your own citizens. Not much more than that.