American Enterprise Institute: Iran is becoming a conventional military power. Combat units drawn from the conventional brigades and divisions of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) have been fighting on the front lines alongside Syrian and Iraqi militias and Lebanese Hezbollah since October 2015. Iran’s ability to conduct combat operations beyond its borders makes it one of a handful of states that can sustain a consistent deployment of forces abroad.

Fred Kagan is Resident Scholar and Director, Critical Threats Project and Christopher DeMuth Chair at American Enterprise Institute.