Israel’s unabated attacks on the Gaza Strip have resulted in thousands of Palestinian casualties. Iranian Foreign Minister Amir-Abdolahian also reminded Israel to stop “war crimes” in Gaza. In fact, the Iranian military is ready to respond to the Israeli military attack.
Israel and Iran are two countries in the Middle East region that are known to have strong militaries. These two countries are often the subject of world attention in terms of military strength. So, what is the comparison of the strength of Iran vs Israel? The following is a comparison of the military strengths of Israel and Iran based on survey results from Global Firepower in 2023.

Defense Budget

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is renowned for its technological advancements, intelligence capabilities, and agility. Israel also consistently invests most of its GDP in the defense sector. Unmitigated, in 2023, Israel will have a defense budget of 24.3 billion USD.
Meanwhile, Iran also allocates large resources to its military. Iran views its military power as a deterrent and a tool to safeguard its national interests. Iran’s military defense budget in 2023 is 5.55 billion USD.

Number of Soldiers

Iran’s military has a number of advantages over Israel, especially in terms of military strength. In terms of active personnel, apparently Iran is superior to Israel, which only has 173,900 troops. Meanwhile, Iran is superior with 575,000 personnel. Even so, the number of Iranian reserve personnel is smaller, namely 350,000 personnel. Meanwhile, Israel is more numerous at 465,000.

Air Power

Israel has a larger military budget, so they have a larger air fleet. Israel is known to have a total of 241 combat aircraft. Meanwhile, Iran only has 196 fighter aircraft. Israel is also superior in attack helicopter weapons and has 48 units. Meanwhile, Iran only has 12 units.

Land Force

In terms of land strength, Iran’s weapons are superior to Israel’s. Iran has 4,071 tanks, which is more than Israel which only has 2,200 tanks. Apart from that, in terms of armored vehicles, artillery and rocket launchers, Iran again dominates with greater numbers.

Sea Power

The Iranian Navy has an advantage in the number of submarines with 19 units, while Israel only has 5 submarines. Iran’s overall naval fleet is also larger with a total of 101 fleets, while Israel only has 67 naval fleets. From this comparison, it appears that Iran has greater military power than Israel, even though Israel has a larger air fleet.

Nuclear Weapons

According to Business Insider, Israel is known to have at least 90 nuclear warheads and enough plutonium stockpiles to produce 100 to 200 additional nuclear weapons. They have the capability to deliver these weapons via aircraft or via missiles, and they have one of the most advanced missile systems in the region.
On the other hand, Iran has been pursuing nuclear capabilities since the late 1980s and early 1990s, although they claim that they are no longer developing nuclear weapons. In addition, Iran continues to increase its missile arsenal and has at least 18 models of cruise and ballistic missiles with ranges between 200 and 2,000 miles in operation or under development.

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