Albeit heavily sanctioned and exhausted by the Islamic revolution and the war with Iraq, Iran has managed to upbuild a self-sufficient defence industry from the ashes and demonstrate a robust weapon system manufacturing capacity over the last decades. It started with low-tech reverse-engineering of 3rd generation fighters and tanks and ended with indigenously producing high-accuracy and long-range ballistic missiles.
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Tehran, which has hijacked a British oil tanker, is increasingly trying to show strength, but the potential military conflict in the Strait of Hormuz is likely to be profitable by others, writes Kalev Stoicescu, a columnist and research fellow at the ICDS on 24 July in business newspaper Äripäev.
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Donald Trump should realise that giving a military strike on Iran will not bring Tehran to the negotiating table and creates risk for outbreak of a major regional conflict, writes Kalev Stoicescu, a Research Fellow at the International Centre for Defence and Security and columnist in daily Postimees on July 19.
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“If there were a military outbreak in [Iran], the consequences would be catastrophic, studies show,” Kalev Stoicescu, a Research Fellow at the International Centre for Defence and Security, said on July 9 on Vikerraadio, Estonian Public Broadcasing, commenting on Iran’s uranium enrichment and mounting tensions around the Persian Gulf.
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On December 11th 2017, five days after he announced his expected intention to run for the fourth time for Russia’s presidency, Vladimir Putin visited Hmeimim air base, met Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, and declared that Russia’s military mission in Syria had been “accomplished.”
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Euphoric festivities continue in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan region in Iraq, and flags depicting a yellow sun are flying high.
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Most recent commentary on Kim Jong-un’s reasoning to continue with his nuclear programme rarely fails to invoke (the rogue state’s lessons learned from) the examples of Muammar Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein.
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