Iran isn’t a superpower but it wants to drive the US out of Middle East. I wonder why Iran complains the US is hostile to them.
Iran has potential for becoming again a real superpower.
Historically Persia was among the few top civilizations that have shaped mankind from its dawn. Spanning more than a claimed 7'000 years (that is more than the Korea's 5000 years).
Its demography will soon be increased from 80 millions to 200 millions in the near future, following Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for population increase in a key speech in 2012.
Thus ranking at the ~10th place by
2050, compared to the Vietnamese ~111 millions (17th place).
Its claimed natural sphere of influence spans 3'000 km from North to South, and 4'000 km from West to East. That is as vast as Europe and China.
“Tomorrow’s Iran, the extension of Cyrus’s ideal
A land with strategic depth.”
[referring to the vast Achaemenid empire under Cyrus the Great]
https://twitter.com/MaysamBehravesh/status/1229759003900731392
http://archive.is/urA4t/b4e6b5aa28fb887d6790002d70fbead0cb3b662f.jpg ; https://archive.is/urA4t/5ecc7f78624a2fef8d97a83651ca39a52b842a95/scr.png ; http://web.archive.org/web/20200218235308/https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ERD7ScRX0AAPxuQ?format=jpg&name=large ; https://twitter.com/MaysamBehravesh/status/1229759003900731392
▲ 1. Iran's claimed natural sphere of influence spans 3'000 km from North to South, and 4'000 km from West to East.
Conscious of its historical status and present potential, there is nothing Iran will renounce.
It has a declared will to send an astronaut into space by February 2023 in a suborbital flight, and into orbit sometimes after 2024.
By 2029, it will orbit its own 3 seaters spacecraft, able to rendezvous and dock with its planed future space station.
Thus joining the elite club of space superpowers.
http://archive.ph/H6Ux1/19dbf90a118ba546cff75f563bacb6f9cde08e35.jpg ; https://archive.ph/H6Ux1/8b550db6528bf3416d1e1f4973cff91fb88655a1/scr.png ; http://web.archive.org/web/20200218235948/https://i.imgur.com/orOym09.jpg
▲ 2. Iran's manned space plan roadmap.
http://archive.is/Niz3N/d77f7f62b227ecddcbbc36bc852baf0e640e2039.jpg ; https://archive.is/Niz3N/caf2442ef373cd749dc8f0b55b9775a9b8e0781c/scr.png ; http://web.archive.org/web/20200209135856/https://i.imgur.com/FzyjwiL.jpg
▲ 3. Safir SLV family speculation, as of February 2020.
We see that already at this stage, Iran is light years ahead of Vietnam, and not in the same league. Vietnam is limited to a regional influence in the ASEAN only.
By this time, it will have developed its own strategic nuclear submarines. And fitted with solid fuel ballistic missiles of intercontinental range (SLBM).
It will have its own fleet of AEGIS destroyers, its own missile interceptors, without excluding its own indigenous aircraft carriers. It will field its own constellation of navigation satellites, geosynchronous communications satellites, and polar orbit reconnaissance satellites.
All this will be made possible by its huge natural reserve of various mineral and energy resources, coupled with its tremendous manpower, under a strong leadership guided by a sense of independence and national self-esteem and dignity. That is what Vietnam is totally lacking.
http://i.imgur.com/oXw05ph.jpg ; http://www.iranmilitaryforum.net/index.php?topic=15754.msg123025#msg123025
▲ 4. ▲ Undated image of an Iranian SSBN, with 14 SLBM