Professional pictures of the Quds commander Suleimani are part of Iranian promotion of its support of Iraq forces against Isis. Suleimani and the Iraqi militias he commands have played a key role in halting Isis. But neither he nor any other Iranian official has been invited to Tuesday's strategy meeting in Washington between the US president, Barack Obama, and military chiefs from 20 western and Arab countries, which aimed to draw up a plan to defeat the militants. The crisis in Iraq may have created a temporary alignment between the US and Iran, bitter enemies for the last 35 years, but they remain firmly at odds over Syria, where Tehran s loyal support has been crucial in bolstering Bashar al-Assad.

From time to time Iran announces building new military devices, which cannot be independently verified. Iran began a self-sufficient military program in 1992, under which the country produces weapons from mortars to submarines

Iran s covert activities appear to be continuing unabated in countries such as Syria and Iraq. Despite Iran s public denials, for example, other information suggests Iran is increasingly involved, along with Lebanese Hizballah, in the Syria conflict. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) remains a key tool of Iran s foreign policy and power projection, in Syria and beyond. IRGC-QF has continued efforts to improve its access within foreign countries and its ability to conduct terrorist attacks.

Hamas is able to fire missiles into Israel because Tehran provided weapons technology to the militant group to defend itself against Israeli attacks, a senior Iranian official said Monday. Officials from Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards have said in the past that Fajr-5 missiles are part of Hamas' Gaza Strip arsenal, whose technology has been supplied by Iran and produced locally without needing direct shipment.

A powerful Iranian general has emerged as the chief tactician in Iraq's fight against Sunni militants, working on the front lines alongside 120 advisers from his country's Revolutionary Guard to direct Shiite militiamen and government forces in the smallest details of battle, militia commanders and government officials say.

Iran has developed the capacity to destroy a U.S. warship on less than a minute s notice, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said Tuesday in comments that were met with skepticism by military experts in the West. In the latest threat that Iran s hardline military forces have levied at U.S. presence in the region, Navy Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi told semi-official Fars news agency that his forces have been building replicas of U.S. frigates and aircraft carriers for years in order to practice blowing them up.

A senior US official on Sunday signalled optimism about a possible resolution of the Iranian nuclear dispute, but said Washington remained concerned that Iran's ballistic missiles threatened Gulf Arab states. Frank Rose, US deputy assistant secretary of state for space and defence policy, said Washington was "acutely" aware of Gulf Arab states' anxieties about Iran and wanted to help them launch a Gulf-wide co-ordinated missile defence capability.