Not a Sayan
Inertia
The vast dunes of the desert are a death to all but the most resilient of living beings. No armies will march upon our ancient land without us knowing it, and making sure that their peril is certain. For thousands of years we have lived in the desert, and our people have adopted to fighting in them better than any other nation! No invader will survive for long enough to fight back against our forces.
By controlling all the mayor routes of travel across the desert, no armies can march through our borders without confronting us. By utilizing our superior supersonic fighters and detection equipment, no plane or flying beast can outrun us.
PROJECT GIZLILIK:
By adopting to desert conditions in our warfare, and focusing on the htree main aspects of Mobility, Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence, we gain the upper hand against an enemy unfamiliar with this terrain. Our cities are far and wide, separated by vast amounts of deadly sand which we shall employ to our advantage. PROJECT GIZLILIK focuses on creating technologies that help our forces blend in and take advantage of the cruel terrain of the deserts and mountains that form our territory. Ran in secrecy since 1991, the project has made breakthroughs in all the target areas descirben in Gen 1. Thought The 2018 Persian Summit wasn't held, in 2019 Teheran will host the event where the nations of the Empire will discuss the goals for Gen 2.
Turkey - Project HAREKETLILIK
JUNO-005/006 Hover Engines: These advanced hover engines propel our vehicles around two feet off the ground, and grant them increased mobility. With these motors, we create much less evidence of our movements across the desert, and considerably decrease the chances of sand interfering with the movement of our vehicles.
Iran - Project HAYALET
HAYALET Suit: This is afull body suit that is inspired by the reflective qualities of sand. By breaking the light hitting the suit in a fashion similar to how sand creates mirages, partly employing the surrounding desert to help in this, the image of our soldiers becomes extremely distorted and near undistinguishable from the surrounding sand. Even at extremely short distances, our soldiers remain fully stealthed and can approach VIP targets without any visual confirmation. However the technologically has a few drawbacks. Though the HAYALET armor stays fully invisible in the desert, the fiber is optimized around blending in with the sand. Other terrains will provide almost no stealth capabilities for our troops, leaving these suits only valid option for arid terrains. Our Indian division was working on a suit what could be used in wet climates, but we lost connection with them rather fast, and the progress they made wasn't significant.
Egypt - Project GÖZLERI
INUH Sensory kit: The new stanbdard for our sensory equipment, the INUH Sensory kit is a batch of interconnected sensors that can be equipped on nearly any vehicle or even footsoldier. INUH stands for Infra-Night-Ultra-Heat, which are the 4 main types of assisted visuals that the kit provides. Whilst Infra and Heat vision are closely related, The Infrared part of INUH gives a visual feedback for the user, while the heat tracking component is used to identify objects even without the user, and remains a passive scanner as opposed to Infra. The Ultrasonic componenet of the kit is a small audio feedback devices that emits mostly ultrasonic waves that act as a sort of echo-location and can map a 3D space when used. However, these sounds can sadly still be heard, due to some amount of sub-ultrasonic waves required for the device to fully work, resultung in a high-pitched clicking noise with every scan of the device. Vehicles equipped with INUH sensors can track a wide variety of audio and visual spectrums, and can better adopt to combat situations thanks to their heightened situational awareness.
TOTAL PRE-RIFT FIGURES (ALL MEMBER NATIONS):
Manpower(These numbers are rough estimates)
Population: 720,000,000
Eligible for Service: 320,000,000
Military Personnel: 7,988,000
Air Force
Fighters: 2547
Strikecraft: 2123
Attack Helicopters: 359
Transport Aircraft: 2300
Armed Forces
Combat Tanks: 21591
AFVs: 69294
SPGs: 4346
Towed Artillery Pieces: 12154
MRLSs: 3234
Naval Forces
Carriers: 2 (2 in drydocks)
Frigates: 54 (12 in drydocks)
Cruisers: 0 (2 in drydocks)
Destroyers: 0 (6 in drydocks)
Corvettes: 36
Submarines: 69 (giggity)
Patrol Craft & MWVs: 783
Logistics
Servicable Airports: 1234
Major Ports: 54
Merchant Marine Strength: 1284
TOTAL PRO-RIFT FIGURES:
TBA
I like lore. So here is a hopefully comprehensible history of a nation which should've totally existed but failed to do so IRL thanks to political and religious reasons. Be warned, this is a lot.
Quick Details: The Persian Empire includeas all middle eastern countries, plus the islamic Pakistan and Afghanistan in case that wasn't made clear.
Born from the ashes of the first world war, and the ensuing arab congresses, many of the great nations from the Ottoman Empire found themselves in a tricky situation. Blessed with oil, but without a solid governement, the nations of the arab congress relied heavely on Turkey even after they managed to leave the Ottoman Empire. With Egypt and Iran as the two de-facto islamic nations in the region, Turkey was contested in their might to control the arabian people.
In 1940 when the second world war broke out, the communist Turkey decided to break the friendly ties with the Arabian nations, and instead begin a crusade against the middle east. It would reach as far south as Israel and as far East as Karadzs, threatening both Egypt and Iran. But in 1942 the now re-dubbed Ottomans were stopped a few miles away from Teheran and at the gates of Jerusalem. By the end of the second world war the stalemate would not be solved, and aside from smaller skirmishes and breakthrough attempts none of the sides managed to claim victory. In 1946 the USSR turned it's attention towards the Middle East, deciding that the oil in the area was needed for their was efforts.
1946 August 5, the USSR declared war on practically every nation of the Arab Congress, and helped Turkey in their war efforts. By October 12 Cairo and Teheran fell, ushering a new era of communism over the Middle east.
In 1950 along with the forming of the UN, most member states of the Arab Congress (excluding Iran) declare independency from the Ottoman regime, beginning a twelve year guerilla war over their fromer territories. Ambushing Turkish and Russian forces from the desert, years ofa ttrition would slowly wear down the Turkish forces. The decentralized rebels make significant progress and establish their HQ in Masada, Israel by the end of 1956.
In 1959 the Arab Congress has managed to finally make significant land grab by retaking most of Egypt, and diggin themsevles in behind the UN controlled Suez canal, sending a fleet of logistic ships from Cairo to help the war efforts. In 1960, the ISTIKHAM MASADA operation begins, pushing the Turkish out of Israel and freeing the fortification of Masada. A large fortificating effort begins in which they turn most of the nearby castles into military fortresses, including Masada.
Independently from the Egyptian front, in 1961 Iran also declares war on Turkey, separating from the communist nation. Lead by the fascist dictator Cyrus X taking after the name of emperor who created the Achaemenid Empire. Dubbing Iran as the Persian Empire, his fanatic army attacked launched an offensive from Teheran at the Turkish forces as they were fighting off the Egyptian forces as well. In 1961 March 24 the Turkish forces hastly retreat from the immediate area of Teheran, leaving behind excessive amount of Russian and Turkish weaponary in the city. Armed with WW2 and modern equipment the Persian forces begin their long march to the river Tigris, where the Turkish have dug themselves in.
Despite the best effort of Egypt to make contact with Cyrus X, the two nations don't make contac until their frontlines meet in the start of August 1961 near Baghdad. On 1961 August 16 the Iran forces launch a surprise offensive at the Egyptian forces to take over the city of Baghdad. They besiege the city containing a majority of Egypts forces, and would fight over the territory for 3 months until the defenders surrender in November 14. Instead of taking them prisoners, the Persian forces recruit the Arabs to fight against the Turkish. No offical declaration of war is made against Egypt, but the Persian forces would continue to advance deeper into the Egyptian territory and recruit their forces in the coming months, finally reaching the Masada line in December.
Turkish forces are still on the defensive, and due to the more urget threats regarding America and Europe the USSR withdraws fromt the conflict. Meanwhile by 1962 January the Persian forces manage to break through the Masada line and make a concentrated assault to Cairo, capturing the city on February 3 of 1962. With the surrender of the Egyptian governement, most of the rebel forces join the Persian Empire.
During a speech on February 4, Cyrus X welcomes all the nations of the Persian Empire into his mighty regime, giving them partial independance and establishing a Persian led governement in Cairo that would act as secondary capital. announches his ambitions at restoring the Achaemenid Empire and establishing a Middle Eastern superpower. The Arabian forces are sent to training camps where they are brainwashed into the same fanatic fascist soldiers as the Persians.
In July 1962 the Persian Empire begin a large scale offensive against the Turkish defenders, easely breaching their lines and marching straight into the Turkish hearthland. From this point on Turkish defenders can rarely organize effective defenses as the Persian army marches relentlessly towards Istambul. Ankara falls on the 14th of September, and the Persian forces reach teh edge of Istambul on the 21th of November. The next day the Turkish governement finally surrenders which ends the 12 year conflict between Turkey and the Middles eastern nations.
The Persian Empire is officaly established as a worldwide recognised nation on the 1st of December, which Cyrus X declares as a national Holiday. A totalitarian regime is oput into place that tightly monitors all the member nations of the Empire, in a similar fashion to the USSR. The Istambul-Cairo-Teheran economic triangle becomes the leading power in the area, threatening teh Balcan nations with further expansion. From this point on, the Persian Empire's nations all became semi-independant, being able to house their own military and political affairs, thought with strict restrictions (//Again, pretty much the Warsav pact but more to the south. Imagine fascist USSR//)
During the Indo-Pakistan conflict of 1965 Iran heavely supported Pakistan seeing the chance to finally try out it's newest military vehicles and gain kudos with his neighbours. Thought the war ended in August by UN intervention, Iran managed to gain significant influence over Pakistan. The Iranian equipment was also tested in the field, revealing significant problems in the A-2 "Şarnıç" tanks and the TPA-4 and TPA-5 armored fighting vehicles. These would later contribute to the production of the A-3 "Vasita" tanks and the abanodnement of the TPA project and replacing it with the OG line of vehicle developed together with the other nations of the Empire.
In 1967 when Greece declared itself a Military Junta, the Persian empire extended an offer to them to welcome them into the Empire. However the decision was met with fierce resistant it both nations, eventually leading to the cancellation of the offer, but the two antions stay in good terms. However, in 1974 the USSR sent an ultimatum to Greece, which it considered a threat to it's balcanin holdings, in which it threatened the young nation with a war if they don't change their governement. Despite the Persian Empire being an up and coming superpower, the now aging Cyrus X would deny help to Greece, which would ultimately refuse the ultimatum and capitualte in July after a Soviet invasion.
During the same year, the jewish nation of Israel would declare independence from the Persian Empire. Backed by UN and American forces, the small nation amred itself to the teeth. The Empire was divided on what to do with Israel. Turkey and Iraq feared UN intervention in case of a war, whilst Egypt and Saudi Arabia wanted to see the territories returned to Palestine. Ultimately a decision was made on the 5th of June, whereas the nations of the Persian Empire declared war on Israel, and launched a combined offensive against the small nation. The war would last only 6 days, when the allied forces reached the fortress city of Jerusalem. Cyrus X sent an ultimatum that would make them return all their territory to Palestine, but would allow them to remain a sovereign city state in Jerusalem. The decision met significant resisitance from Egypt, but With Tukrey and Iran agreeing on the contents it was already decided. On the 11th of June, Israel surrendered and returned all her territories to Palestine aside from the city of Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv.
In the 1972 Pakistan-Indian war the Iranian army yet again helped the Pakistani army with volunteer forces. Despite the losses suffered from Indian forces, and the eventual loss of the war, Iran came out as a victor from the war. Pakistani people have been infuriated for some hundred years now, and would end up joining the Persian Empire after their loss against India in 16th of December 1971. Thought Bangladesh became its own country, Pakistan became an important Easter asset for teh Persian Empire, mostly because it was a buffer nation to the east for Iran.
In the 21st of January 1973 Cyrus X died at the age of 67, and his close friend and similarly far-right Egyptian politican Jahan Abbasi came to power. During the nxt month he would begin his grand plan of arabizing most of Turkey, migrating hundreds of thousands of people and settling them down in Anatolia. Thought causing a nation-wide unrest in Turkey, and a rebellion that lasted from July to August, the plan was a success at introducing a large minority of Arabians to Turkey. The following years would see a rapid increase in Arabian ethnic group in most parts of Anatolia.
Jahan Abbasi would bring a plathera of new revolutionary ideas to the Persian Empire, significantly raising the living conditions of the people living in the Empire. Thanks to his efforts a strong industry developed in Saudi Arabia which would go on the reduce the number of people in agriculture by a large margin, and reducing the amount of people who live in far off desert settlements by an unprecedented number. By 1978 his reforms would help solidify the Persian Empire as one of the world's leading powers, ann the de-facto political leader in the Middle-Eastern and North African sphere. Following the same totalitarian ideals as Cyrus X, Jahan became obsessed with the ways of old, and would crown himself as the Emperor of Persia in 1976. He would go on to act as a role model for the Arabians, further pushing the Arabian superiority ideals across the Empire.
One of the greatest accomplishements of Jahan Abbasi was the succesful creation and detonation of a 50 Kt nuclear bomb in the Arabian desert, which introduced the world to a new superpower in the Middle East. During his short rule, Iran would produce three dozen nuclear warheads in the kiloton range, and succesfully detonate a variable yield atomic bomb with the total power of 1.2 Mt. Despite warning from the UN and threats of war, backed by the Persian Empire and their thrist for power, Iran refused to give up it's nuclear arsenal, ultimately ending up in an armistice between the UN and Iran that would force Iran to limit the yield of their warheads to 500 Kt. Further tests in the Megaton range were carried out even after the armistice, but the commonly produced warheads all abided by these rules.
Due to his untimely death in January 16th of 1978, a large group of disstatisfied ethnic and racial minorities supported by communists started a civil war to replace the monarchy with a communist leadership that would join the Warsav pact. After the death of Jahan Abbasi his son, Darius Abbasi took over as the Emperor at the age of 21. He would be known as Darius the Ruthless for generations to come. Despite the help of the USSR, the rebellion would be quelled and completely destroyed by June of the same year, resulting in the arrests of more than 200,000 rebels. In April of 1978 he started the execution trials for roughly 12,00 men and women who were the main collaborators for the rebellion. Despite his tender age, Darius showed himself to be a merciless leader, clamping down on any rebllious activity for the next months.
Darius would also be associated with the many smaller military skirmishes of the Persian Empire in the coming years, and the Imperialistic traditons spreadin through the Arabian people. His principle, the "Harika Hedef", would see the Persian Empire join many armed conflicts around the balkans and the Asian continent.
In 1979, the Soviet-Afghan war began as the tension between the Islamic rebels and the newly formed Soviet supporting state. As a response to Soviet mobilisation during December, and after The Persian Empire went into an uproar as the Afghan political party executed more than 27,000 people, Iran and her allies began mobilising on the other side of the Afghan border. Despite numerous warning from the UN in hopes of avoiding total war between the two nations, Darius wouldn't back down from supporting the islamic radicals of Afghanistan. Following Sovier mobilizations of several attack helicopters and AFVs into the area of Afghanistan, Iran started supplying the rebels with state of the art Persian weaponary. On the 27th of December 1979 when the Soviets managed to overthrow the governement of Afghanistan the nations of the Persian Empire went into absolute fury. The Islamic world condemned the USSR for it's actions, and asked for the immediate withdrawal of soviet forces from the country.
Along with many other nations from around the world, the Persian Empire started funelling money and weapons into the Afghan resistance. Seeing the clear anti-islamic pattern and negative attitude towards Iranian influence in the Afghan region from Soviet forces, on the March of 1980 Darius Abbasi sent an ultimatum to the Soviet chairman Brezhenv with the condition to withdraw all soviet forces from Afghan territory. The answer came from teh soviets as an air raid on a small Iranian military base near the Afghan border.
In the 21st of March, 1980, Darius Abbasi made a speech to the people of the Empire on television, calling the to war agains the Soviet "opression" of the "highly religius" and "superior" Afghan people. This war was perhaps the best usage of a commony enemy to push his father's ideals of racial supriority. The Iranian army began mobilizing on the 22nd, with the Egyptian forces joining them on the border on the 25th. The Turkish army mobilized with other member nations on the Anatolian border with the Soviet Union.
Despite the call, Iraq would not answer, bringing up old territorial feuds with Iran as reasons. Darius knew that if he were to exclude the Iraqi people then it would upset the scale, so he made the decision on the 25th to cede some land from Iran in return of miliatary participation from Iraq.
For the first time since World War II, the world saw a large armed conflict between two powerful nations. On the first of April, the Turkish forces started their push through the Caucasian mountains, distrupting key logistical lines that provided crude oil to the soviet army. On the same day, Persian allied forces led by the Iranian Commander Valence Paria made a deep push into the Afghan territory and capturing Kandahar from the Soviets. Suprised by the Iranian offensive, the Soviet forces failed to mobilize an effective defense for the next three day, when on the 4th of April the advance came to a halt.
For the next six years, the fight would become a mass of skirmishes from both side in the Afghan area, and a passive resistance from both sides in the Caucasian regions. Despite the best efforts of the Turkish troops, it was revealed as early as August of 1980 to the military command that breaking the Caucasian defenses of the Soviets would prove to be an impossible task without either Iranian or Egyptian forces. In Afghanistant the war raged with varying intesnty, with practically no action being taken in the cold winter months of the mountaneous terrain. The capital city of Kabul changed side several times during the conflict. Thought early advances from soviet troops in 1982 and 83 that drove the iranian forces back to the border, 1985 and more improtantly 1986 with the introduction of american stinger missiles saw extensive losses from the Russian side. In 1897 as the Soviet Union tried to withdraw their forces, the Iranian army made a sneaky push from both the west and east side of the northern part of Afghanistan, managing to finally encircle Kabul for one last time. This encirclement of many Soviet troops led to the withdrawa of the Soviet Union from Afghanistan in the Winter months of 1987. February of 1987 saw the communist governement forces of Afghanistan see heavy losses from Iranian forces who would eventually reach Mazari Sharrif on the 6th of March, ending the civil war. This was marked by a Geneva convention on the 27th of March, which placed Afghanistan into a no-man's land as it forced both Soviet and Persian troops to withdraw from the country.
During the 9 year war, Iran managed to capture a handful of advanced soviet designs and some of the american Stinger missiles, which would later be turned into the PSR-1 AA rocket and introduced into the Iranian army in 1988. Thought the handful of captured Soviet T-62 tanks contained interesting design methods, the Iranian military saw the Persian made A-3 "Vasita" tanks as far more superior weapons. Similarly, the Mi-24 attack helicopter proved some valuable insight into making effective gunships, but was ultimately not enough to replace the Egyptian SH-13. However, the most important capture in the war was without a question a Mig-31, taken out by a British AA unit in the July of 1984. The Persian forces soon captured the plane, and brought back what remained of it for further research. This accelerated jet propulsion technology by at least a decade for the Persian empire, and would become the basis of fearsom "Şahin" line of interceptors.
The conflict saw the Afghan and Pakistani people clash over ideals, resulting in great unrest between the two nations. In January of 1988, Iranian ruler Darius Abbasi would extend a formal invitation to Afghanistan, asking her people to join into the Persian Empire as full members. He knew that the people of Pakistan and Afghanistan hated each other enough to stop them from ever joining, so he offered to redraw the borders of the two nations with careful attention to historical backgrounds. Afghanistan held a vote on the 3rd of February, ending up in 76-23 vote for joining. On the 4th of February, Afghanistan offically joined the Persian Empire as a member state, and it's borders with Pakistan would be redrawn according to historical details.
However, internal struggles were not yet done. Iran and her people remembered the backstabbing of Iraq at the start of the war, and there were general protests asking for the return of the lands ceded at the start of the war. Darius Abbasi would go on to mobilise the Iranian troops on the Iraqi border by the end of February, heeding all other nations of the Empire to "remain neutral" in "these times of distress and instability" and deterring them from helping either side. Iraq would mobilise her forces and set up a defensive perimeter by the 4th of March. Iran declared war on Iraq on the 6th of March as a reprisal for ceded territories. Many nations outside the Persian Empire would keep a close eye on the events, with the USA and Britan sending weapons to Iraq in hopes of destabilizing the Middle Eastern area by overthrowing the dictatorship.
The war lasted from the 6th of March until the 23th of August and saw intensive use of unconventional weapons. The Iraqi army engaged in trench warfare, essentially digging out mile long trenches, mining entire square miles in front of Iranian advance, and deploying MG positions all over the frontline. The first field test of the 3 ŞU-1 interceptor prototype was done during the war, which gave some vauluable info on the plane's capabilities to their developers in Iran, Egypt and Turkey. Ultimately the Turkish model proved to be the most efficient, which was designated as the basis of the line.
During the war, IraQ would deploy mustard gas against Iranian troops in July, which led to a worldwide uproar and the immediate halt of supply runs from the British and American forces. This decision was ultimately what enede the war so quickly, as the Iraqi could not support a war of attrition against Iran. Their decision to surrender on the 23rd of August came after a military coup of Iranian supporters a day before, on the 22nd of August. Darius would accept their surrender, but replace the governement with pro-Iranian politicans to avoid the same ven from happening in the future. On the 24th, Iranian forces occupied the territories ceded before the war, and they were met by people celebrating the reunion on the streets.
Following the war with Iraq, Iranian people began asking for a fortification line on the common borders of Iraq and Iran, and the small patch with Turkey and Armenia to completely defend the country from any attacks that may come from the west. Hesitant on making such a political suicide, Darius would consult with the leaders of Egypt and Turkey, until a decision was made to reinforce both the borders of Iran, Turkey and the Masada Line near Egypt.
On the same year, Yugoslavia began stirring up conflict within it's borders. In accordance with Darius's "Harika Hedef", supporting them would be paramount for the spreading of the ideals that his father established. However, a war would not start in the region until the early 1990, and the Persian Empire would remain peaceful for one more year.
By the 1990s the Industrial and merchant power of the Persian Empire grew to considerable levels, thanks to it's monopolium on the middle eastern oil. Large countries of Europe and America would all have to buy oil from either them or Russia, making the oil industry into a trillion dollar business. However, the closed ecnomony laws would often disturb trade with other nations, since most foreign nations wouldn't be able to bring their products into Persia. Darius saw that most companies in Persia own some kind of monopolium, and that the choice of products were very limited for the common man. In the end, he would call in a Turkish advisor by the name Sabbah. The two would form the "Yeni sanayi tasarı", a governement project aimed at refreshing the market by allowing in some of the larger foreign countries, and forcing Persian monopoliums to share teh market with smaller companies that would receive significant governement funds. Along with this bill, a new currency was introduced in palce of the old one which went by the name "Persian Rial".
With the new bill, trade would significally improve and Persia became known for other exports other than its oil. By this point, the Persian Empire was widely accepted as one of the world's superpowers, with it's economy matching that of China and many other European nations. It had a nuclear arsenal it would not cede to the UN in fears of a Soviet attack, and most of it's military was up-to-date or closesly catching up to that of Russia and the USA.
The controversial deicision which stabilized the Soviet Union in 1991 came as a surprise to the world. Since most people expected the USSR to collapse in the coming years, this new decentralizing act from the president was a surprising turn of events. Darius in fear of an imminent Soviet attack, decided that in the Persian Summit of 1991 he would announce his plans for PROJECT GIZLILIK. Fearing that the Persian empire may be a target of foreign powers in the coming years, the Project would focuse on the military contribution of the three core memeber states: Iran, Egypt and Turkey. Focusing on the 3 aspects of desert warfrare of Intelligence, Counter-Intelligence and Mobility, the three nations would eaach receive the task of developing experimental technologies in these areas that can give them an edge over conventional weaponary.
In 1991 Beginning in March, the Serb elements in the Yugoslavian army failed to keep the country under control, resulting in mass exiting of the state's countries. Along with many other nations, Persia too would send aim to the small states that tried to earn their independancy. In the first wave, Croatia rose up against the Serbian governement, and held a vote to leave Yugoslavia. By the summer of 1991, skirmishes were commonplace between the serb paramilitary units and the croatian police and armed forces. To help out the Serbian forces, the Turkish and Iranian army deployed a large number of it's new generation 4 MBTs under the codename A-4 "Ağır" to fight the Serbian M-82s. Along with this, they heped to ferry the Croatina troops by providing them with a small number of OGS-90 APCs.
The fight for Croeatia would eventually end in 1995 with joint UN assistance of many nations including, but not limited to, the USA, UGR, Britain and her allies, and the Persian Empire. However by 1992, Bosnia too separated from Yugoslavia, requiring even more assistance for the renegade nations from the International community. Despite the original intentions of Darius, the Persian Empire would help in the war effort to bring a democratic constitution to Bosnia and Croeta, earning a great deal of respect from the international community. Following reports uncovering mass genocide against muslim people by Serb forces, Egypt spearheaded a movement against the Serbian governement in the confines of the UN General Assembly. The resuslt was the eventual trial and condemnent of many Serbian oficers and politicans by the international comittee.
Following 1995, 4 years of peace followed until Albania would want to leave Yugoslavia, which started an inconsistent chain of wars from 1999 to 2001 which saw Macedonia and Albania leave Yugoslavia. Thought Persia would still help the two nations, the intensity of the operations undertook by their forces was less notable than in the previous two wars. Finally in 2001 Yugoslavia fell apart completely leaving Serbia as it's own country.
During 1999, the Soviet Union fell apart and the world sighed in relief as the communist opression disappeared from europe. The ex-soviet bloc members in europe would form a coalition between themselves, and the UN General Assembly would once again call all nations to forego their nuclear arsenal. The leading superpowers at the time who still had nukes, USA, China, Russia, Persian Empire and the UGR, would begin a long chain of bureaucratic endeavours to store their nukes. The exception from this treaty was Iran and Egypt, who at the time controlled most of the Persian Empire's nuclear arsenal. Arguing that the unstability caused by new coalitions, such as the AESR and the USEA combined with the lack of Soviet power to control them can lead to a war without any deterrance. After a two month long trial in the summer of 1999, Iran and Egypt would accept a treaty in the 5th of August that would let them keep their nuclear arsenal in their country, but it would be strictly under control by UN forces at all times. In addition, Legacy corporation would also manage to get a hold of land in Cairo where they would plan the construction of Legacy Gate 6.
In the coming years, the world saw the rise of armed conflicts in Africa and South America, following the destabilization of communist dictatorships that lacked Soviet support. Iran and her allies would decide to stay out of these revolutionary wars, fearing that inciting fascist rebellions in African countries might endanger their trade routes and political interests.
Despite this, the Persian army would go on to produce it's own line of Gen 5 interceptors and strike aircraft in the 2000s. The ŞU-2/F and the ŞU-2/S interceptor and strike aircraft entered service in 2004, rivalling the capabilities of the Russian Su-32 and the American F-22. The ŞU-2/F is a two seat interceptor aircraft with advanced sensory euipment and limited stealth capabilities that has significant supersonic capabilities, with it's max speeds reaching 3,7 Machs at operational altitudes using an afterburner. The ŞU-2/F is a similarly designed aircraft built upon the same chassis as the ŞU-2/S, but it features a side-by-side cockpit for the pilot and wepaons operator. This strike aircraft is slightly larger than it's interceptor sibling, but it has more refined shapes that add up to better stealth capabilities, and an improved Işın-202 jet engine capable of providing enough trust to give the plane an operational speed of 3,2 Machs, and a max speed of 4,3 Machs with afterburner. Both aircraft are equipped with HMDS systems that provide accurate tactical details and target marking for the wepaon operator and pilot. Both planes can simultaneously track up to 10 individual targets, and a rear-facing sensor array can idntifyincoming threats and launch one of the plane's R-07 missiles to deal with attackers.
Thanks to the efforst of PROJECT GIZLILIK, an improved version of the A-4 model would be announced to the world in 2009 during the Persian Military Festival, called the A-5 "Yüzer". The efforts of the Turkish research group have led to significant advances in propulsion options, leading to the production of the JUNO-005 hover propulsion engines. A few of these engines are capable of lifting up a heavy tank such as a T-90 or M-1 Abrmas tank a feet or two off the ground. The A-5 tanks would prove to be excellent at traversing the desert, crusing over the dunes at speeds of 62 Kilometers an hour. These tanks would have improved armor protection over the A-4, and would have active protections against incoming projectiles. The same 120mm rifled guns are used on the A-5 as on the A-4, which proved themselves to be powerful enough to penetrate the side armor and weak spots of the Serbian M-82s.
A year later, the joint design OGS-90 would receive a massive overhaul and be fitted with the same JUNO-005 engines as the A-5. The model would receive the codename OSG-90/Y, and would prove to be a similarly succesful design to the A-5. Despite numerous military and business group, including Legacy, hoping to secure a researcha greement with the Persian Empire, the design of the JUNO-005 would remain a governement secret.
In 2009, binded by the traty with the UN and Legacy regarding her atomic bombs, Egypt would begin construction of their own Legacy gate in Cairo. Despite protests from many citizens of the city, Egypt was binded to help build the Legacy gate. Iran and Turkey would financiallly help out the project and ease the burden put on the state capital.
By 2010 Persia would become a leading country in army innovations, with numerous partenerhsips with other countries. Notably, India and Iran would approach for the first time since the Soviet Union fell apart. Iran at the time was working on PROJECT GIZLILIK for the Counter-Intelligence, providing the ŞU-2 models with better ways of improving their stealth capabilities. India in particular was interested in the project, and in 2011 they bought a production license for the aircraft from Iran for an estimated cost of 56 billion dollars. In 2012 the two countries would form a military research agreemnet in which India was allowed limited insight into Iran's HAYALEK project. Inida would provide several key facilities in their territory for the testing purposes, and began work on their own version of the material that would fir the needs of soldiers fighting in tropical and wet climates.
In 2014, Iran purchased 2 new aircraft carriers from China, which would house the new ŞU-2/D naval supremacy fighters. The same year would see Egypt and Iran buy more warships from across the world, namely 6 destroyers, 12 frigates and 2 cruisers with the capability of launching ICBM missilies. Most of these ships would undergo extensive modernization that wouldn't be finished until 2020 leaving the ships in dry docks.
In March of 2015, Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon began an extensive fortification project that would encircle the State of Israel and use the terrain's high altitude differences to create similar large military outposts to Masada. By December this meant that most locations like Masada, incluidng Har Qatum and other large Mesas have been fortified alongside the Israeli border. Countless airbases were built on this hard-to-get terrains, and border patrols along Israeli increased. Turkey and Iran questioned the motives of Egypt, but would ultimately not make actions despite UN sanctions on Egypt.
2016 would see Persia become a spaceage country, deploying 15 satellites into orbit during the summer months. Though the nature of most satellites rmain unknown, at least 5 satellites have been confirmed to be commercial satellites requested by large companies inside the Empire. At least one other satellite is suspected to be aimed at improving net coverage in the underdeveloped regions of the Empire. The fortline created around Israel would be reinforced too, with a total of 8 new fortifications being built and the rest being developed.
In 2017, the Legacy gates would be finished and Egypt would finally rid themselves from the hundreds of Legacy and UN supervisors. In the same year, Egypt would finally finish their part of the GIZLILIK project by announcing the INUH sensor kit, which was revolutionary despite the large delay caused by the funding that was funnelled into the gate. With this, Gen 1 of Project Gizlilik was finished, and the leaders of the triad would sit together again in 2018 to talk about the objectives of the next generation.
At new year's eve, the Legacy gates were supposed to be opened. However, the gates would end up a bust, killing a dozen people as soon as the explosion appeared by the gate. The area entered immediate lockdown, and Egyptian security forces seized the gate. When the first wave of extraterrestrial beings walked through the portal, the Egyptian security forces unleashed fire upon them both from small and high caliber weaponary. Meanwhile, the strategic council was watching news of the other gates as well, with the telephone lines sizzling hot as they tried to resolve this international crisis. Emperor Darius who was celebrating his 60th birthday this year took to the TV screens once again to assure the people of the empire that no army is too mighty to win against the might of the Persian Empire. Following his statement, he was moved to Fortress Cennet, a nuclear bunker inside a mountain and military outpost deep within the Iranian mountain lines.
Cairo would be evacuated in the next 24 hours, and the city to be placed into the Cairo Exclusion Zone. The Exclusin zone was a long line of military barricades where the Egyptian and Saud Arabian military forces tried to maintain a perimeter against the hordes of invading alines. The UT-14 Gunships would strafe the site around teh gate on an hourly basis, and tanks and AFVs lining the border of the square mile zone. At T+53 hours, on around midday on the 3rd of January, 2018, the invaders would overwhelm the western side of the defenses and break out towards Alexandria. The gtovernement flees Cairo and escapes towards Iran. The Military retreats to the newly fortified Masada Line, and the Egyptian state enters martial law. Police forces are urged to gather supplies and retreat to safe places. Civilians are escorted by the thousands on military transport planes and merchant vessels towards Turkey and Iran. Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Kuwait enter a state of emergency, and all major politicans are moved to safehouses in the Iranian mountain region. Police forces stay in the cities to keep order and help evacuate as many civilians as possible to military bases. Militaries patrol the borders near Egypt, with most of the avaible forces in the Empire being mobilized to the other side of the Suez Canal to set up a defensive perimeter. Yemen and Oman choose not to declare martial law knowing that the desert will likely stop the invaders, but they still rpovide their military. An abundance of civilians are transported via planes into afghan and pakistani territores.
On the 12th of January, Egypt offically falls. On the 15th, invader forces assault the Suez canal unsuccessfully. On the 16th they try again, and manage to force a retreat out of the joint army who in fear of serious casualties retreat to the Masada line. They would hold the full perimeter of this defensive system until the 30th of March, upon which the amount of invaders makes it impossible to make any road connections with other military bases of the line. The state of Israel accepts millions of refugees, and is relatively protected by it's massive army and high walls surrounding Jerusalem.
By April, the invaders reached the Turkish and Iranian border fortifications. Saudi Arabia and the other middle easter countries fell, apart from Oman and Yemen who accurately predicted that the desert would be enough help to defend themselves. Despite valiant efforts, The turkish defensive line would fall back all the way to Ankara, leaving some more lone islands of military fortresses in Anatolia scattered across the country.
In Iran, western border managed to hold, but the doom came from teh norther approaches. The Russian's gate failed to be contained and endless hordes came rampaging through Afghanistan and Pakistan. With a few exceptions, only major cities like Kabul and Islamabad survived the horde. In Iran, the Teheran-Islafhan line held, leaving only a small portion of the country untouched by the invaders. Egypt remained nothing more than the Masada line and a few other spots of resistance in Alexandria and Luxor. Empire wide, oil fields and ports would be fighting to defend themselves against the invaders, as they were high importance targets.
Thankfully, a large part of the military was saved due to the tactical retreats made by the Egyptian and Iranian armies. In the coming year, cargo planes would make weekly flight en masse to delvier supplies to the fortifications in the desert and in the ports. Iran would focus most of her military defending what remained of her territory, and heralidng most of the Empire's population that fled to this region.
In the 23rd of March, 2019, Emperor Darious once again announced via radio broadcast and airdropped pamplets that he would not rest until the Empire is back again on it's feet. For all this time, high command would not make any significant moves at restoring the Empire without a solid plan. Now that they have gathered the armies and instructed most major remaining forts and ports what to do, the conquest can begin to take back the holy land from the invaders.
In 1940 when the second world war broke out, the communist Turkey decided to break the friendly ties with the Arabian nations, and instead begin a crusade against the middle east. It would reach as far south as Israel and as far East as Karadzs, threatening both Egypt and Iran. But in 1942 the now re-dubbed Ottomans were stopped a few miles away from Teheran and at the gates of Jerusalem. By the end of the second world war the stalemate would not be solved, and aside from smaller skirmishes and breakthrough attempts none of the sides managed to claim victory. In 1946 the USSR turned it's attention towards the Middle East, deciding that the oil in the area was needed for their was efforts.
1946 August 5, the USSR declared war on practically every nation of the Arab Congress, and helped Turkey in their war efforts. By October 12 Cairo and Teheran fell, ushering a new era of communism over the Middle east.
In 1950 along with the forming of the UN, most member states of the Arab Congress (excluding Iran) declare independency from the Ottoman regime, beginning a twelve year guerilla war over their fromer territories. Ambushing Turkish and Russian forces from the desert, years ofa ttrition would slowly wear down the Turkish forces. The decentralized rebels make significant progress and establish their HQ in Masada, Israel by the end of 1956.
In 1959 the Arab Congress has managed to finally make significant land grab by retaking most of Egypt, and diggin themsevles in behind the UN controlled Suez canal, sending a fleet of logistic ships from Cairo to help the war efforts. In 1960, the ISTIKHAM MASADA operation begins, pushing the Turkish out of Israel and freeing the fortification of Masada. A large fortificating effort begins in which they turn most of the nearby castles into military fortresses, including Masada.
Independently from the Egyptian front, in 1961 Iran also declares war on Turkey, separating from the communist nation. Lead by the fascist dictator Cyrus X taking after the name of emperor who created the Achaemenid Empire. Dubbing Iran as the Persian Empire, his fanatic army attacked launched an offensive from Teheran at the Turkish forces as they were fighting off the Egyptian forces as well. In 1961 March 24 the Turkish forces hastly retreat from the immediate area of Teheran, leaving behind excessive amount of Russian and Turkish weaponary in the city. Armed with WW2 and modern equipment the Persian forces begin their long march to the river Tigris, where the Turkish have dug themselves in.
Despite the best effort of Egypt to make contact with Cyrus X, the two nations don't make contac until their frontlines meet in the start of August 1961 near Baghdad. On 1961 August 16 the Iran forces launch a surprise offensive at the Egyptian forces to take over the city of Baghdad. They besiege the city containing a majority of Egypts forces, and would fight over the territory for 3 months until the defenders surrender in November 14. Instead of taking them prisoners, the Persian forces recruit the Arabs to fight against the Turkish. No offical declaration of war is made against Egypt, but the Persian forces would continue to advance deeper into the Egyptian territory and recruit their forces in the coming months, finally reaching the Masada line in December.
Turkish forces are still on the defensive, and due to the more urget threats regarding America and Europe the USSR withdraws fromt the conflict. Meanwhile by 1962 January the Persian forces manage to break through the Masada line and make a concentrated assault to Cairo, capturing the city on February 3 of 1962. With the surrender of the Egyptian governement, most of the rebel forces join the Persian Empire.
During a speech on February 4, Cyrus X welcomes all the nations of the Persian Empire into his mighty regime, giving them partial independance and establishing a Persian led governement in Cairo that would act as secondary capital. announches his ambitions at restoring the Achaemenid Empire and establishing a Middle Eastern superpower. The Arabian forces are sent to training camps where they are brainwashed into the same fanatic fascist soldiers as the Persians.
In July 1962 the Persian Empire begin a large scale offensive against the Turkish defenders, easely breaching their lines and marching straight into the Turkish hearthland. From this point on Turkish defenders can rarely organize effective defenses as the Persian army marches relentlessly towards Istambul. Ankara falls on the 14th of September, and the Persian forces reach teh edge of Istambul on the 21th of November. The next day the Turkish governement finally surrenders which ends the 12 year conflict between Turkey and the Middles eastern nations.
The Persian Empire is officaly established as a worldwide recognised nation on the 1st of December, which Cyrus X declares as a national Holiday. A totalitarian regime is oput into place that tightly monitors all the member nations of the Empire, in a similar fashion to the USSR. The Istambul-Cairo-Teheran economic triangle becomes the leading power in the area, threatening teh Balcan nations with further expansion. From this point on, the Persian Empire's nations all became semi-independant, being able to house their own military and political affairs, thought with strict restrictions (//Again, pretty much the Warsav pact but more to the south. Imagine fascist USSR//)
During the Indo-Pakistan conflict of 1965 Iran heavely supported Pakistan seeing the chance to finally try out it's newest military vehicles and gain kudos with his neighbours. Thought the war ended in August by UN intervention, Iran managed to gain significant influence over Pakistan. The Iranian equipment was also tested in the field, revealing significant problems in the A-2 "Şarnıç" tanks and the TPA-4 and TPA-5 armored fighting vehicles. These would later contribute to the production of the A-3 "Vasita" tanks and the abanodnement of the TPA project and replacing it with the OG line of vehicle developed together with the other nations of the Empire.
In 1967 when Greece declared itself a Military Junta, the Persian empire extended an offer to them to welcome them into the Empire. However the decision was met with fierce resistant it both nations, eventually leading to the cancellation of the offer, but the two antions stay in good terms. However, in 1974 the USSR sent an ultimatum to Greece, which it considered a threat to it's balcanin holdings, in which it threatened the young nation with a war if they don't change their governement. Despite the Persian Empire being an up and coming superpower, the now aging Cyrus X would deny help to Greece, which would ultimately refuse the ultimatum and capitualte in July after a Soviet invasion.
During the same year, the jewish nation of Israel would declare independence from the Persian Empire. Backed by UN and American forces, the small nation amred itself to the teeth. The Empire was divided on what to do with Israel. Turkey and Iraq feared UN intervention in case of a war, whilst Egypt and Saudi Arabia wanted to see the territories returned to Palestine. Ultimately a decision was made on the 5th of June, whereas the nations of the Persian Empire declared war on Israel, and launched a combined offensive against the small nation. The war would last only 6 days, when the allied forces reached the fortress city of Jerusalem. Cyrus X sent an ultimatum that would make them return all their territory to Palestine, but would allow them to remain a sovereign city state in Jerusalem. The decision met significant resisitance from Egypt, but With Tukrey and Iran agreeing on the contents it was already decided. On the 11th of June, Israel surrendered and returned all her territories to Palestine aside from the city of Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv.
In the 1972 Pakistan-Indian war the Iranian army yet again helped the Pakistani army with volunteer forces. Despite the losses suffered from Indian forces, and the eventual loss of the war, Iran came out as a victor from the war. Pakistani people have been infuriated for some hundred years now, and would end up joining the Persian Empire after their loss against India in 16th of December 1971. Thought Bangladesh became its own country, Pakistan became an important Easter asset for teh Persian Empire, mostly because it was a buffer nation to the east for Iran.
In the 21st of January 1973 Cyrus X died at the age of 67, and his close friend and similarly far-right Egyptian politican Jahan Abbasi came to power. During the nxt month he would begin his grand plan of arabizing most of Turkey, migrating hundreds of thousands of people and settling them down in Anatolia. Thought causing a nation-wide unrest in Turkey, and a rebellion that lasted from July to August, the plan was a success at introducing a large minority of Arabians to Turkey. The following years would see a rapid increase in Arabian ethnic group in most parts of Anatolia.
Jahan Abbasi would bring a plathera of new revolutionary ideas to the Persian Empire, significantly raising the living conditions of the people living in the Empire. Thanks to his efforts a strong industry developed in Saudi Arabia which would go on the reduce the number of people in agriculture by a large margin, and reducing the amount of people who live in far off desert settlements by an unprecedented number. By 1978 his reforms would help solidify the Persian Empire as one of the world's leading powers, ann the de-facto political leader in the Middle-Eastern and North African sphere. Following the same totalitarian ideals as Cyrus X, Jahan became obsessed with the ways of old, and would crown himself as the Emperor of Persia in 1976. He would go on to act as a role model for the Arabians, further pushing the Arabian superiority ideals across the Empire.
One of the greatest accomplishements of Jahan Abbasi was the succesful creation and detonation of a 50 Kt nuclear bomb in the Arabian desert, which introduced the world to a new superpower in the Middle East. During his short rule, Iran would produce three dozen nuclear warheads in the kiloton range, and succesfully detonate a variable yield atomic bomb with the total power of 1.2 Mt. Despite warning from the UN and threats of war, backed by the Persian Empire and their thrist for power, Iran refused to give up it's nuclear arsenal, ultimately ending up in an armistice between the UN and Iran that would force Iran to limit the yield of their warheads to 500 Kt. Further tests in the Megaton range were carried out even after the armistice, but the commonly produced warheads all abided by these rules.
Due to his untimely death in January 16th of 1978, a large group of disstatisfied ethnic and racial minorities supported by communists started a civil war to replace the monarchy with a communist leadership that would join the Warsav pact. After the death of Jahan Abbasi his son, Darius Abbasi took over as the Emperor at the age of 21. He would be known as Darius the Ruthless for generations to come. Despite the help of the USSR, the rebellion would be quelled and completely destroyed by June of the same year, resulting in the arrests of more than 200,000 rebels. In April of 1978 he started the execution trials for roughly 12,00 men and women who were the main collaborators for the rebellion. Despite his tender age, Darius showed himself to be a merciless leader, clamping down on any rebllious activity for the next months.
Darius would also be associated with the many smaller military skirmishes of the Persian Empire in the coming years, and the Imperialistic traditons spreadin through the Arabian people. His principle, the "Harika Hedef", would see the Persian Empire join many armed conflicts around the balkans and the Asian continent.
In 1979, the Soviet-Afghan war began as the tension between the Islamic rebels and the newly formed Soviet supporting state. As a response to Soviet mobilisation during December, and after The Persian Empire went into an uproar as the Afghan political party executed more than 27,000 people, Iran and her allies began mobilising on the other side of the Afghan border. Despite numerous warning from the UN in hopes of avoiding total war between the two nations, Darius wouldn't back down from supporting the islamic radicals of Afghanistan. Following Sovier mobilizations of several attack helicopters and AFVs into the area of Afghanistan, Iran started supplying the rebels with state of the art Persian weaponary. On the 27th of December 1979 when the Soviets managed to overthrow the governement of Afghanistan the nations of the Persian Empire went into absolute fury. The Islamic world condemned the USSR for it's actions, and asked for the immediate withdrawal of soviet forces from the country.
Along with many other nations from around the world, the Persian Empire started funelling money and weapons into the Afghan resistance. Seeing the clear anti-islamic pattern and negative attitude towards Iranian influence in the Afghan region from Soviet forces, on the March of 1980 Darius Abbasi sent an ultimatum to the Soviet chairman Brezhenv with the condition to withdraw all soviet forces from Afghan territory. The answer came from teh soviets as an air raid on a small Iranian military base near the Afghan border.
In the 21st of March, 1980, Darius Abbasi made a speech to the people of the Empire on television, calling the to war agains the Soviet "opression" of the "highly religius" and "superior" Afghan people. This war was perhaps the best usage of a commony enemy to push his father's ideals of racial supriority. The Iranian army began mobilizing on the 22nd, with the Egyptian forces joining them on the border on the 25th. The Turkish army mobilized with other member nations on the Anatolian border with the Soviet Union.
Despite the call, Iraq would not answer, bringing up old territorial feuds with Iran as reasons. Darius knew that if he were to exclude the Iraqi people then it would upset the scale, so he made the decision on the 25th to cede some land from Iran in return of miliatary participation from Iraq.
For the first time since World War II, the world saw a large armed conflict between two powerful nations. On the first of April, the Turkish forces started their push through the Caucasian mountains, distrupting key logistical lines that provided crude oil to the soviet army. On the same day, Persian allied forces led by the Iranian Commander Valence Paria made a deep push into the Afghan territory and capturing Kandahar from the Soviets. Suprised by the Iranian offensive, the Soviet forces failed to mobilize an effective defense for the next three day, when on the 4th of April the advance came to a halt.
For the next six years, the fight would become a mass of skirmishes from both side in the Afghan area, and a passive resistance from both sides in the Caucasian regions. Despite the best efforts of the Turkish troops, it was revealed as early as August of 1980 to the military command that breaking the Caucasian defenses of the Soviets would prove to be an impossible task without either Iranian or Egyptian forces. In Afghanistant the war raged with varying intesnty, with practically no action being taken in the cold winter months of the mountaneous terrain. The capital city of Kabul changed side several times during the conflict. Thought early advances from soviet troops in 1982 and 83 that drove the iranian forces back to the border, 1985 and more improtantly 1986 with the introduction of american stinger missiles saw extensive losses from the Russian side. In 1897 as the Soviet Union tried to withdraw their forces, the Iranian army made a sneaky push from both the west and east side of the northern part of Afghanistan, managing to finally encircle Kabul for one last time. This encirclement of many Soviet troops led to the withdrawa of the Soviet Union from Afghanistan in the Winter months of 1987. February of 1987 saw the communist governement forces of Afghanistan see heavy losses from Iranian forces who would eventually reach Mazari Sharrif on the 6th of March, ending the civil war. This was marked by a Geneva convention on the 27th of March, which placed Afghanistan into a no-man's land as it forced both Soviet and Persian troops to withdraw from the country.
During the 9 year war, Iran managed to capture a handful of advanced soviet designs and some of the american Stinger missiles, which would later be turned into the PSR-1 AA rocket and introduced into the Iranian army in 1988. Thought the handful of captured Soviet T-62 tanks contained interesting design methods, the Iranian military saw the Persian made A-3 "Vasita" tanks as far more superior weapons. Similarly, the Mi-24 attack helicopter proved some valuable insight into making effective gunships, but was ultimately not enough to replace the Egyptian SH-13. However, the most important capture in the war was without a question a Mig-31, taken out by a British AA unit in the July of 1984. The Persian forces soon captured the plane, and brought back what remained of it for further research. This accelerated jet propulsion technology by at least a decade for the Persian empire, and would become the basis of fearsom "Şahin" line of interceptors.
The conflict saw the Afghan and Pakistani people clash over ideals, resulting in great unrest between the two nations. In January of 1988, Iranian ruler Darius Abbasi would extend a formal invitation to Afghanistan, asking her people to join into the Persian Empire as full members. He knew that the people of Pakistan and Afghanistan hated each other enough to stop them from ever joining, so he offered to redraw the borders of the two nations with careful attention to historical backgrounds. Afghanistan held a vote on the 3rd of February, ending up in 76-23 vote for joining. On the 4th of February, Afghanistan offically joined the Persian Empire as a member state, and it's borders with Pakistan would be redrawn according to historical details.
However, internal struggles were not yet done. Iran and her people remembered the backstabbing of Iraq at the start of the war, and there were general protests asking for the return of the lands ceded at the start of the war. Darius Abbasi would go on to mobilise the Iranian troops on the Iraqi border by the end of February, heeding all other nations of the Empire to "remain neutral" in "these times of distress and instability" and deterring them from helping either side. Iraq would mobilise her forces and set up a defensive perimeter by the 4th of March. Iran declared war on Iraq on the 6th of March as a reprisal for ceded territories. Many nations outside the Persian Empire would keep a close eye on the events, with the USA and Britan sending weapons to Iraq in hopes of destabilizing the Middle Eastern area by overthrowing the dictatorship.
The war lasted from the 6th of March until the 23th of August and saw intensive use of unconventional weapons. The Iraqi army engaged in trench warfare, essentially digging out mile long trenches, mining entire square miles in front of Iranian advance, and deploying MG positions all over the frontline. The first field test of the 3 ŞU-1 interceptor prototype was done during the war, which gave some vauluable info on the plane's capabilities to their developers in Iran, Egypt and Turkey. Ultimately the Turkish model proved to be the most efficient, which was designated as the basis of the line.
During the war, IraQ would deploy mustard gas against Iranian troops in July, which led to a worldwide uproar and the immediate halt of supply runs from the British and American forces. This decision was ultimately what enede the war so quickly, as the Iraqi could not support a war of attrition against Iran. Their decision to surrender on the 23rd of August came after a military coup of Iranian supporters a day before, on the 22nd of August. Darius would accept their surrender, but replace the governement with pro-Iranian politicans to avoid the same ven from happening in the future. On the 24th, Iranian forces occupied the territories ceded before the war, and they were met by people celebrating the reunion on the streets.
Following the war with Iraq, Iranian people began asking for a fortification line on the common borders of Iraq and Iran, and the small patch with Turkey and Armenia to completely defend the country from any attacks that may come from the west. Hesitant on making such a political suicide, Darius would consult with the leaders of Egypt and Turkey, until a decision was made to reinforce both the borders of Iran, Turkey and the Masada Line near Egypt.
On the same year, Yugoslavia began stirring up conflict within it's borders. In accordance with Darius's "Harika Hedef", supporting them would be paramount for the spreading of the ideals that his father established. However, a war would not start in the region until the early 1990, and the Persian Empire would remain peaceful for one more year.
By the 1990s the Industrial and merchant power of the Persian Empire grew to considerable levels, thanks to it's monopolium on the middle eastern oil. Large countries of Europe and America would all have to buy oil from either them or Russia, making the oil industry into a trillion dollar business. However, the closed ecnomony laws would often disturb trade with other nations, since most foreign nations wouldn't be able to bring their products into Persia. Darius saw that most companies in Persia own some kind of monopolium, and that the choice of products were very limited for the common man. In the end, he would call in a Turkish advisor by the name Sabbah. The two would form the "Yeni sanayi tasarı", a governement project aimed at refreshing the market by allowing in some of the larger foreign countries, and forcing Persian monopoliums to share teh market with smaller companies that would receive significant governement funds. Along with this bill, a new currency was introduced in palce of the old one which went by the name "Persian Rial".
With the new bill, trade would significally improve and Persia became known for other exports other than its oil. By this point, the Persian Empire was widely accepted as one of the world's superpowers, with it's economy matching that of China and many other European nations. It had a nuclear arsenal it would not cede to the UN in fears of a Soviet attack, and most of it's military was up-to-date or closesly catching up to that of Russia and the USA.
The controversial deicision which stabilized the Soviet Union in 1991 came as a surprise to the world. Since most people expected the USSR to collapse in the coming years, this new decentralizing act from the president was a surprising turn of events. Darius in fear of an imminent Soviet attack, decided that in the Persian Summit of 1991 he would announce his plans for PROJECT GIZLILIK. Fearing that the Persian empire may be a target of foreign powers in the coming years, the Project would focuse on the military contribution of the three core memeber states: Iran, Egypt and Turkey. Focusing on the 3 aspects of desert warfrare of Intelligence, Counter-Intelligence and Mobility, the three nations would eaach receive the task of developing experimental technologies in these areas that can give them an edge over conventional weaponary.
In 1991 Beginning in March, the Serb elements in the Yugoslavian army failed to keep the country under control, resulting in mass exiting of the state's countries. Along with many other nations, Persia too would send aim to the small states that tried to earn their independancy. In the first wave, Croatia rose up against the Serbian governement, and held a vote to leave Yugoslavia. By the summer of 1991, skirmishes were commonplace between the serb paramilitary units and the croatian police and armed forces. To help out the Serbian forces, the Turkish and Iranian army deployed a large number of it's new generation 4 MBTs under the codename A-4 "Ağır" to fight the Serbian M-82s. Along with this, they heped to ferry the Croatina troops by providing them with a small number of OGS-90 APCs.
The fight for Croeatia would eventually end in 1995 with joint UN assistance of many nations including, but not limited to, the USA, UGR, Britain and her allies, and the Persian Empire. However by 1992, Bosnia too separated from Yugoslavia, requiring even more assistance for the renegade nations from the International community. Despite the original intentions of Darius, the Persian Empire would help in the war effort to bring a democratic constitution to Bosnia and Croeta, earning a great deal of respect from the international community. Following reports uncovering mass genocide against muslim people by Serb forces, Egypt spearheaded a movement against the Serbian governement in the confines of the UN General Assembly. The resuslt was the eventual trial and condemnent of many Serbian oficers and politicans by the international comittee.
Following 1995, 4 years of peace followed until Albania would want to leave Yugoslavia, which started an inconsistent chain of wars from 1999 to 2001 which saw Macedonia and Albania leave Yugoslavia. Thought Persia would still help the two nations, the intensity of the operations undertook by their forces was less notable than in the previous two wars. Finally in 2001 Yugoslavia fell apart completely leaving Serbia as it's own country.
During 1999, the Soviet Union fell apart and the world sighed in relief as the communist opression disappeared from europe. The ex-soviet bloc members in europe would form a coalition between themselves, and the UN General Assembly would once again call all nations to forego their nuclear arsenal. The leading superpowers at the time who still had nukes, USA, China, Russia, Persian Empire and the UGR, would begin a long chain of bureaucratic endeavours to store their nukes. The exception from this treaty was Iran and Egypt, who at the time controlled most of the Persian Empire's nuclear arsenal. Arguing that the unstability caused by new coalitions, such as the AESR and the USEA combined with the lack of Soviet power to control them can lead to a war without any deterrance. After a two month long trial in the summer of 1999, Iran and Egypt would accept a treaty in the 5th of August that would let them keep their nuclear arsenal in their country, but it would be strictly under control by UN forces at all times. In addition, Legacy corporation would also manage to get a hold of land in Cairo where they would plan the construction of Legacy Gate 6.
In the coming years, the world saw the rise of armed conflicts in Africa and South America, following the destabilization of communist dictatorships that lacked Soviet support. Iran and her allies would decide to stay out of these revolutionary wars, fearing that inciting fascist rebellions in African countries might endanger their trade routes and political interests.
Despite this, the Persian army would go on to produce it's own line of Gen 5 interceptors and strike aircraft in the 2000s. The ŞU-2/F and the ŞU-2/S interceptor and strike aircraft entered service in 2004, rivalling the capabilities of the Russian Su-32 and the American F-22. The ŞU-2/F is a two seat interceptor aircraft with advanced sensory euipment and limited stealth capabilities that has significant supersonic capabilities, with it's max speeds reaching 3,7 Machs at operational altitudes using an afterburner. The ŞU-2/F is a similarly designed aircraft built upon the same chassis as the ŞU-2/S, but it features a side-by-side cockpit for the pilot and wepaons operator. This strike aircraft is slightly larger than it's interceptor sibling, but it has more refined shapes that add up to better stealth capabilities, and an improved Işın-202 jet engine capable of providing enough trust to give the plane an operational speed of 3,2 Machs, and a max speed of 4,3 Machs with afterburner. Both aircraft are equipped with HMDS systems that provide accurate tactical details and target marking for the wepaon operator and pilot. Both planes can simultaneously track up to 10 individual targets, and a rear-facing sensor array can idntifyincoming threats and launch one of the plane's R-07 missiles to deal with attackers.
Thanks to the efforst of PROJECT GIZLILIK, an improved version of the A-4 model would be announced to the world in 2009 during the Persian Military Festival, called the A-5 "Yüzer". The efforts of the Turkish research group have led to significant advances in propulsion options, leading to the production of the JUNO-005 hover propulsion engines. A few of these engines are capable of lifting up a heavy tank such as a T-90 or M-1 Abrmas tank a feet or two off the ground. The A-5 tanks would prove to be excellent at traversing the desert, crusing over the dunes at speeds of 62 Kilometers an hour. These tanks would have improved armor protection over the A-4, and would have active protections against incoming projectiles. The same 120mm rifled guns are used on the A-5 as on the A-4, which proved themselves to be powerful enough to penetrate the side armor and weak spots of the Serbian M-82s.
A year later, the joint design OGS-90 would receive a massive overhaul and be fitted with the same JUNO-005 engines as the A-5. The model would receive the codename OSG-90/Y, and would prove to be a similarly succesful design to the A-5. Despite numerous military and business group, including Legacy, hoping to secure a researcha greement with the Persian Empire, the design of the JUNO-005 would remain a governement secret.
In 2009, binded by the traty with the UN and Legacy regarding her atomic bombs, Egypt would begin construction of their own Legacy gate in Cairo. Despite protests from many citizens of the city, Egypt was binded to help build the Legacy gate. Iran and Turkey would financiallly help out the project and ease the burden put on the state capital.
By 2010 Persia would become a leading country in army innovations, with numerous partenerhsips with other countries. Notably, India and Iran would approach for the first time since the Soviet Union fell apart. Iran at the time was working on PROJECT GIZLILIK for the Counter-Intelligence, providing the ŞU-2 models with better ways of improving their stealth capabilities. India in particular was interested in the project, and in 2011 they bought a production license for the aircraft from Iran for an estimated cost of 56 billion dollars. In 2012 the two countries would form a military research agreemnet in which India was allowed limited insight into Iran's HAYALEK project. Inida would provide several key facilities in their territory for the testing purposes, and began work on their own version of the material that would fir the needs of soldiers fighting in tropical and wet climates.
In 2014, Iran purchased 2 new aircraft carriers from China, which would house the new ŞU-2/D naval supremacy fighters. The same year would see Egypt and Iran buy more warships from across the world, namely 6 destroyers, 12 frigates and 2 cruisers with the capability of launching ICBM missilies. Most of these ships would undergo extensive modernization that wouldn't be finished until 2020 leaving the ships in dry docks.
In March of 2015, Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon began an extensive fortification project that would encircle the State of Israel and use the terrain's high altitude differences to create similar large military outposts to Masada. By December this meant that most locations like Masada, incluidng Har Qatum and other large Mesas have been fortified alongside the Israeli border. Countless airbases were built on this hard-to-get terrains, and border patrols along Israeli increased. Turkey and Iran questioned the motives of Egypt, but would ultimately not make actions despite UN sanctions on Egypt.
2016 would see Persia become a spaceage country, deploying 15 satellites into orbit during the summer months. Though the nature of most satellites rmain unknown, at least 5 satellites have been confirmed to be commercial satellites requested by large companies inside the Empire. At least one other satellite is suspected to be aimed at improving net coverage in the underdeveloped regions of the Empire. The fortline created around Israel would be reinforced too, with a total of 8 new fortifications being built and the rest being developed.
In 2017, the Legacy gates would be finished and Egypt would finally rid themselves from the hundreds of Legacy and UN supervisors. In the same year, Egypt would finally finish their part of the GIZLILIK project by announcing the INUH sensor kit, which was revolutionary despite the large delay caused by the funding that was funnelled into the gate. With this, Gen 1 of Project Gizlilik was finished, and the leaders of the triad would sit together again in 2018 to talk about the objectives of the next generation.
At new year's eve, the Legacy gates were supposed to be opened. However, the gates would end up a bust, killing a dozen people as soon as the explosion appeared by the gate. The area entered immediate lockdown, and Egyptian security forces seized the gate. When the first wave of extraterrestrial beings walked through the portal, the Egyptian security forces unleashed fire upon them both from small and high caliber weaponary. Meanwhile, the strategic council was watching news of the other gates as well, with the telephone lines sizzling hot as they tried to resolve this international crisis. Emperor Darius who was celebrating his 60th birthday this year took to the TV screens once again to assure the people of the empire that no army is too mighty to win against the might of the Persian Empire. Following his statement, he was moved to Fortress Cennet, a nuclear bunker inside a mountain and military outpost deep within the Iranian mountain lines.
Cairo would be evacuated in the next 24 hours, and the city to be placed into the Cairo Exclusion Zone. The Exclusin zone was a long line of military barricades where the Egyptian and Saud Arabian military forces tried to maintain a perimeter against the hordes of invading alines. The UT-14 Gunships would strafe the site around teh gate on an hourly basis, and tanks and AFVs lining the border of the square mile zone. At T+53 hours, on around midday on the 3rd of January, 2018, the invaders would overwhelm the western side of the defenses and break out towards Alexandria. The gtovernement flees Cairo and escapes towards Iran. The Military retreats to the newly fortified Masada Line, and the Egyptian state enters martial law. Police forces are urged to gather supplies and retreat to safe places. Civilians are escorted by the thousands on military transport planes and merchant vessels towards Turkey and Iran. Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Kuwait enter a state of emergency, and all major politicans are moved to safehouses in the Iranian mountain region. Police forces stay in the cities to keep order and help evacuate as many civilians as possible to military bases. Militaries patrol the borders near Egypt, with most of the avaible forces in the Empire being mobilized to the other side of the Suez Canal to set up a defensive perimeter. Yemen and Oman choose not to declare martial law knowing that the desert will likely stop the invaders, but they still rpovide their military. An abundance of civilians are transported via planes into afghan and pakistani territores.
On the 12th of January, Egypt offically falls. On the 15th, invader forces assault the Suez canal unsuccessfully. On the 16th they try again, and manage to force a retreat out of the joint army who in fear of serious casualties retreat to the Masada line. They would hold the full perimeter of this defensive system until the 30th of March, upon which the amount of invaders makes it impossible to make any road connections with other military bases of the line. The state of Israel accepts millions of refugees, and is relatively protected by it's massive army and high walls surrounding Jerusalem.
By April, the invaders reached the Turkish and Iranian border fortifications. Saudi Arabia and the other middle easter countries fell, apart from Oman and Yemen who accurately predicted that the desert would be enough help to defend themselves. Despite valiant efforts, The turkish defensive line would fall back all the way to Ankara, leaving some more lone islands of military fortresses in Anatolia scattered across the country.
In Iran, western border managed to hold, but the doom came from teh norther approaches. The Russian's gate failed to be contained and endless hordes came rampaging through Afghanistan and Pakistan. With a few exceptions, only major cities like Kabul and Islamabad survived the horde. In Iran, the Teheran-Islafhan line held, leaving only a small portion of the country untouched by the invaders. Egypt remained nothing more than the Masada line and a few other spots of resistance in Alexandria and Luxor. Empire wide, oil fields and ports would be fighting to defend themselves against the invaders, as they were high importance targets.
Thankfully, a large part of the military was saved due to the tactical retreats made by the Egyptian and Iranian armies. In the coming year, cargo planes would make weekly flight en masse to delvier supplies to the fortifications in the desert and in the ports. Iran would focus most of her military defending what remained of her territory, and heralidng most of the Empire's population that fled to this region.
In the 23rd of March, 2019, Emperor Darious once again announced via radio broadcast and airdropped pamplets that he would not rest until the Empire is back again on it's feet. For all this time, high command would not make any significant moves at restoring the Empire without a solid plan. Now that they have gathered the armies and instructed most major remaining forts and ports what to do, the conquest can begin to take back the holy land from the invaders.
