Iran Has Modernised Its Tank Forces Around Soviet Technologies: Can They Repel a U.S. Ground Invasion?

Following indicates by multiple U.S. forces that a ground invasion of Iran is under consideration, the capabilities of the country’s ground forces have gained significant attention. Iran's armoured warfare capabilities have undergone a profound transformation since the formation of the Islamic Republic, evolving from a force built around ageing U.S. and British tanks procured in the 1970s, into a more diverse force that also incorporates North Korea, Chinese, Soviet and indigenous vehicles. Although decades of work on tank development culminated in the unveiling of the Karrar main battle tank in March 2017, however, the vehicle is not thought to have been procured in significant numbers, while the expectation of large scale tank procurements from abroad never materialised. 

During the Iran-Iraq War, Iran's armoured forces were built primarily around British Chieftain and American M60 main battle tanks, both of which proved overwhelmingly outmatched by Iraqi Army T-72 tanks, and comfortably outmatched by its older T-62s. This was widely attested to by personnel on both sides of the conflict. Iran was unable to procure comparably capable tanks to the T-72, other than an estimated two dozen of the vehicles that were procured from Libya. It did, however, procure Chonma tanks in significant numbers from North Korea, which were locally licence produced derivatives of the T-62 design, as well as Chinese Type 59 tanks, which were derivatives of the Soviet T-54/55.

Iranian armour faced a continued disadvantage on the ground against Iraqi forces, leading to a greater reliance on manpower and ‘human wave’ tactics to overwhelm Iraqi lines with bomb-carrying infantry, often poorly trained new recruits from the Revolutionary Guard. Following the death of Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989, who had firmly opposed the expansion of ties with the Soviet Union, Iran rapidly expanded ties with the USSR, and signed a license production deal for 550 T-72S tanks. After the collapse of the Warsaw Pact, Iran purchased 104 Polish-built T-72M1 tanks and a further 37 from Belarus, while also obtaining approximately 300 older T-62 and T-55 tanks to expand its armoured formations. These vehicles were notably all very significantly less capable than the Soviet T-72B variant that had entered production in the mid-1980s. Cooperation with Russia was cut off shortly after the USSR disintegrated, with the license production deal terminated after the production of under 350 T-72s. 

Iran made efforts to refurbish its significant fleet of M60 and Chieftain tanks, with the Zulfiqar program combining the M60 chassis with elements inspired by the Soviet T-72, although they less capable than even relatively basic export variants of the T-72. Their greatest importance lay less in their operational performance than in the technological experience they provided to Iran's defence industry. It was not until the unveiling of the Karrar in March 2017 that Iran appeared to have produced an indigenous main battle tank approaching the capabilities of 1970s Soviet designs. The Karrar, whose name translates as "Striker" in Farsi, was developed specifically to reduce reliance on imported armour while providing a platform capable of matching the increasingly sophisticated tanks fielded by regional rivals. Although visually the vehicle bore a striking resemblance to the Russian T-90MS, it was not considered comparably advanced. 

Although Iranian authorities have released relatively little detailed technical information regarding the Karrar, publicly available imagery and official statements indicate that the tank incorporates a substantially more advanced suite of technologies than previous domestic designs. It is reported to integrate an electro-optical fire control system, laser rangefinder, ballistic computer, stabilised gun sight, and improved night-fighting capabilities. The tank is armed with a 125 mm smoothbore cannon compatible with modern Soviet-standard ammunition, fed by an autoloader that reduces crew requirements while increasing sustained rates of fire. Protection is enhanced through a combination of composite armour and explosive reactive armour covering much of the turret and hull, while the vehicle's weight of more than 50 tons reflects the significant increase in protection compared to earlier Iranian designs.

While the Karrar was expected to become the principal main battle tank of both the Iranian Army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the program did not result in large scale production to equip frontline units. The first issue was industrial capacity, with a modern main battle tank comparable to the T-72B requiring large-scale heavy industrial production, including advanced armour metallurgy, high-performance diesel engines, precision machining and sophisticated fire control systems. Although Iran has steadily improved its defence industry, producing modern tanks in large numbers would be considerably more demanding than assembling T-72s built in Russia. Available evidence suggests that production has proceeded at a relatively modest pace rather than the mass manufacture initially implied when the vehicle was unveiled. 

Instead of producing large numbers of completely new Karrars, the defence industry has increasingly focused on upgrading existing T-72 fleets using technologies developed for the Karrar. In 2025 Iran publicly unveiled a comprehensive T-72 modernisation programme featuring a redesigned turret, thicker armour, a remote weapon station and other modifications clearly derived from the Karrar, suggesting that the programme's technologies are being applied across the existing fleet rather than solely to newly manufactured vehicles. In parallel to modernisation of the M60 fleet under Suleiman-402 modernisation program, a much more impressive successor to the Zulfiqar unveiled in early 2025, this has provided some improvement to Iran’s armoured warfare capabilities, but they still remain very limited even by late Cold War era standards.