The IRIAF rejected it because they saw it as useless for their needs. The IRGC wanted to develop it into UCAV platforms.
Or because it was never made and could not be produced in large scale, due to clear aerodynamic flaws.
No Russia never used their S-400 against Israel but those were deployed explicitly for the protection of the Russian forces in Syria. IranianS-300s were linked to Bavar 373 FCRs but unfortunately those were taken out during the Initial phase of the war either By Spike ATGMs or Small loitering drones.
Yes, that's why I separated the issue of Syrian S-300s from S-400s, but even Syrian S-300s were never used against Israel.
You're thinking about the 12-day battle. Israel took out two of our S-300 FCRs in their attack on Tehran after TP2. They weren't hit internally, but most likely from Iraqi airspace.
No I haven't read what Golani said.
The Russians are out for themselves like anyone else and I can see why you have your grievances. I have mixed feelings about the sale of Shaheds to Russia, On one hand it as a positive for Iran to support Russia militarily in its fight against NATO. I don't think a victory over Russia would bare any positive fruits for Iran. On the other hand it give NATO and Israel experience to develop better countermeasures against them. According to Israel, Iran fired over 1000 drones against Israel. I don't think Iran was short on the Shaheds. I think they were pacing themselves because no one knew how long the war was going to last. It could also be that they had a hard time deploying them in large numbers do to constant harassment from Israeli Loitering drones.
He has said that when they approached Homs, they knew there would be no resistance from Syrian Armed Forces and the Russians because they had reached a deal with Russia. So, Russia literally stabbed Iran in the back again.
Whatever you are saying to justify Russia's constant betrayal, can also be said verbatim for the Western powers. So, again, what's the difference? Why is one side allowed to pursue their own interests at our expense why you feel offended when the other side, namely the US or Europe, does that?
We fired 1,000 drones in a span of 12 days. Russia have fired 700 Shahed drones at Ukraine in a single day! They're producing +500 Shahed drones per day now, and without our license. So, they literally stole it from us. See the difference in numbers? Imagine Iran had fired 12,000 Shahed drones at Israel!
Personally, I don't see why Ayatollah Khamenei would deliberately want to go from President Raisi who was more inline with Khamenei's foreign Policy thinking to someone like Pezeshkian who is always doing everything counter to what Khamenei says in his speeches.
Raeesi was assassinated by Israel in my opinion. It wasn't Khamenei that got rid of him, it was Israel that did that. Khamenei probably soiled his pants when he realized Israelis were now targeting our highest authorities and decided to choose a West-appeasing president that tones down on the anti-West/anti-Israel agenda. Also, Mahsa Amini protests played a huge role in the nomination of Pezeshkian.
Khomeini was a lot more hands on in how he ran Iran. Khamenei's approach is to allow the elected governments to run their own affairs with him just making speeches about the directions he wants Iran to go. My thoughts!
Khomeini was a true leader that fought against an 8-year war imposed on us by an Iraqi psychopath. Khamenei is just a person that has always had help in running the country for him. Rafsanjani, Ahmadinejad, Soleimani, Raeesi, only to name a few. Iran stopped being a regional power the moment Soleimani was assassinated by Trump and Khamenei chickened out.
Why would it be in Khamenei's interest for Pezeshkian to erode support in the Islamic Republic?
He just doesn't care anymore. He's 86 years old. How long will he stay alive? He may die tomorrow of natural causes. He'd rather die peacefully in his bed than fight back and he thinks he could do that even with zero support from the people.
Even the hardcore pro-IR people are dissatisfied with the situation. Iran is giving concession after concession to the West and is getting bombed at the same time too.
Iran negotiated a solution to the Nuclear issue and kept up its part even when the U.S unilaterally withdrew from the agreement. It was first sanctioned despite this fact and eventually attacked as you have stated. Yet the Iranian public voted for a president who's only solution to the issue is More negotiations despite Iran being attacked in the Middle of the previous negotiations. This is where we are at today and I don't like it either.
And you're somehow proud of that?
Iranians never vote for a president. The game is rigged from top to bottom. As I said, Ghalibaf could easily become the president, but Khamenei had to use his influence to sideline Ghalibaf by supporting Jalili for Pezeshkian to win the election.
Have you ever wondered why none of the Iranian presidents have been able to run for a third term? The Guardian Council always blocks it. Why was Larijani disapproved by the Guardian Council if he is fit for being the Secretary of the National Security Council now? How do you justify that? If this is not election manipulation, then what is it?
Khamenei manipulates the election every year through the Guardian Council and nobody ever says why only some candidates are allowed to run, while others with high political positions are disapproved for no reason.
Iran has never been that different than Afghanistan. We got some modernization with Reza Shah, but he basically just copied Ataturk, then ****ed it up by getting close to the Nazis. The revolution was basically a counter-revolution of rural conservative semi-feudal rich who had traditionally held power against the new generation of urban capitalists.
Ironically, I think if we had been colonized, we would not be having these problems today. It is part of the reason we don't have a strong nationalist movement within the country.
Iran did have a strong nationalist movement. The Ayatollahs destroyed it and tried to replace it with Islamic identity.
I wonder how much money these corrupt criminals have siphoned out of our military budget for these vaporware projects. How many aircrafts, tanks and missiles have never seen the light of day? We'll never know
I do have a ball park but only time will tell. Other than our missiles and some of our drones, nearly everything else that Iran has boasted about has been proven to be fake or extremely ineffective. Nearly everything Artesh has done has been for propaganda purposes. What else can you expect from Artesh when they have had extremely low budgets for decades?