Two mountain ranges, two deserts, two seas: Iran’s geography is its greatest weapon

As hundreds of US troops approach the Gulf in their transport aircraft ahead of a possible invasion of Iran, they may permit themselves a glance out of the window to the terrain below.

But military and political experts say that Iran's vast and complex geography mean a ground operation would come at a high cost to the United States and, once started, its direction and length would be hard to predict.

“If you look at the history of such military attacks, you’ll see that generally once ground attacks start, they are very difficult to contain,” Arman Mahmoudian, a research fellow at the University of South Florida’s Global and National Security Institute, told Middle East Eye.

Iranian experts who spoke to Middle East Eeye point to three main scenarios if a ground war begins: the occupation of Iranian islands in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, an attack on Iran’s southern coast, or an invasion through Kurdish-populated areas in western Iran.

There are serious dangers and difficulties associated with every one of them.

Read more: Two mountain ranges, two deserts, two seas: Iran’s geography is its greatest weapon