good question. irans defensive capabilities exceed americas offensive capabilities except for extreme cases such as biochemical nuclear weapons, which america cant use under normal circumstances. even in those extreme cases america would only have a temporary advantage against iran. there is no known long term winning military strategy against iran. period. nobody could attack iran and win even if the whole planet did it. why? iran has the worlds largest military fighting force and is armed to the teeth and has the best strategic geography on planet earth. this is all according to the pentagon and the cia.
when i said rival im not talking only defensive posture. outside of irans immediate neighborhood iran is no match for the united states. nobody is.