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Iran vs. Israel Military Comparison: Who’s Tougher?
Iran vs. Israel Military Comparison: Who’s Tougher?
Sputnik International
The escalation in tensions between Tehran and Tel Aviv following Israel’s missile strike on the Iranian Embassy compound in Damascus on Monday has revived fears of an all-out conflict between the Middle Eastern powers. But which nation’s military is better equipped for a large-scale conflagration?
2024-04-05T14:34+0000
2024-04-05T14:34+0000
2024-04-13T12:06+0000
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Israel is bracing for retaliation to its deadly attack on the Iranian diplomatic compound in the Syrian capital, with officials fearing Iran's response may include the use of "long-range ballistic missiles, cruise missiles or drones." Experts have warned that a direct tit-for-tat response may be exactly what Israel is looking for, suggesting Iran could achieve equally effective results using asymmetric means.While the two countries do not share a common border, each has missile, aerial and naval tools to cause one another serious harm if tensions turn hot. Here's a breakdown of their respective capabilities: TroopsIn early 2023, the International Institute for Strategic Studies estimated the Israel Defense Force’s total strength at 169,500 troops, plus 465,000 reservists (the majority of whom have been called up after October 7).Iran's Armed Forces have about 420,000 troops. This includesThe Islamic Republic also has a 230,000 troop-strong force of elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) troops – 150,000 in the Ground Forces, 40,000 paramilitaries, 20,000 in the IRGC Navy and 15,000 in the IRGC Air and Air Defense Forces. Iran also has at least 350,000 trained reserve personnel to call up in the event of a crisis.BudgetsIn 2022, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute calculated Israel’s defense budget at about $23.4 billion (including $3.18 billion in annual US military aid).Iran had a defense budget equivalent to about $6.8 billion the same year. The Islamic Republic makes up for its smaller budget by lower operating and arms procurement costs, plus a strategy focused on asymmetric solutions – such as converting old oil tankers into floating forward base ships, and the creation of vast, low cost fleets of gunboats for coastal defense.WeaponsBoth countries have large domestic defense industries allowing for the production of everything from small arms and tanks to drones and missiles. Israel has built up its defense sector in cooperation with the US, while Iran – subject to decades of sanctions, looking inward to produce as much of its defense needs as possible domestically.Israel is likely to have an important trump card: nuclear weapons. While neither confirming nor denying its possession of such arms (in a policy known as “deliberate ambiguity”) Israel is suspected of having up to 80 air and missile-deliverable nukes.Iran, by comparison, has rejected nuclear weapons – and all other weapons of mass destruction, in favor of a vast conventional missile arsenal – but has a trump card of a different sort: the ability to close the Hormuz Strait, essentially giving it the power to collapse Western economies in case of aggression by starving them of up to 30 percent of all maritime crude oil deliveries.Combat ExperienceFighting over a dozen wars and insurgencies both with neighboring countries and with the Palestinians from 1948 onward, Israel is by far the most battle-hardened military in the Middle East. However, the ongoing conflict in Gaza has demonstrated that combat prowess is not something passed on between generations, with the IDF experiencing considerable problems fighting Hamas and other militias in Gaza, with the pace of operations against the 25,000-40,000 troop force much slower than expected, and casualties already the heaviest among any 21st century conflict involving Israel to date.Iran also has considerable combat experience. The 1979 Islamic Revolution was forged in the fires of a brutal conflict with Iraq which lasted through most of the 1980s, in which up to 600,000 Iranian and 500,000 Iraqi troops and over 100,000 mostly Iranian civilians were killed. In the decades since, Iran’s military gained combat experience in multiple other conflicts – from domestic insurgencies to IRGC advisory assistance provided to Hezbollah against Israel during the 2006 Lebanon War, and to the Syrian and Iraqi governments during the fight against an array of foreign-backed jihadists in the 2010s.AlliesIf the crisis between Iran and Israel turned hot, both sides' allies would be unlikely to sit on the sidelines.Israel's top ally and sponsor is the United States - which has over half-a-dozen major military bases ringing Iran in the Persian Gulf and Arabia, and additional facilities in nations including Iraq, Jordan, Syria and Turkiye. The US presence in the region includes the mighty Fifth Fleet, include a forward deployed carrier strike group, expeditionary, logistics, mining/demining, submarine, and reconnaissance forces. The US has used the Fifth Fleet extensively for wars of aggression in the Middle East and Afghanistan throughout the past two decades.Iran, for its part, has an array of state and non-state allies of its own across the region known as the 'Axis of Resistance', which includes Syria, Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces militias (which are formally a part of Iraq's security forces), Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah militias, and, by some accounts - Yemen's battle-hardened Houthis.The Islamic Republic has also got some powerful global actors in its corner, with Russia and China - even if they don't take part in hostilities directly, likely to do their best at venues like the UN, and at the regional and bilateral level within the BRICS+ bloc and with their Shanghai Cooperation Organization partners, to try to resolve a conflict as soon as possible, and punish aggressors using economic, diplomatic and other means.
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who would win in a war between israel and iran, who would win iran or israel
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Iran vs. Israel Military Comparison: Who’s Tougher?
14:34 GMT 05.04.2024 (Updated: 12:06 GMT 13.04.2024) The escalation in tensions between Tehran and Tel Aviv following Israel’s missile strike on the Iranian Embassy compound in Damascus on Monday has revived fears of an all-out conflict between the Middle Eastern powers. But which nation’s military is better equipped for a large-scale conflagration?
Israel is
bracing for retaliation to its deadly attack on the Iranian diplomatic compound in the Syrian capital, with officials fearing Iran's response may include the use of "long-range ballistic missiles, cruise missiles or drones." Experts have
warned that a direct tit-for-tat response may be exactly what Israel is looking for, suggesting Iran could achieve equally effective results using asymmetric means.
While the two countries do not share a common border, each has missile, aerial and naval tools to cause one another serious harm if tensions turn hot. Here's a breakdown of their respective capabilities:
In early 2023, the International Institute for Strategic Studies estimated the Israel Defense Force’s total strength at 169,500 troops, plus 465,000 reservists (the majority of whom have been called up after October 7).
The Ground Forces include about 126,000 troops and 400,000 reservists
The Air Force employs 34,000 personnel and 55,000 reservists
The Navy has 9,500 personnel and 10,000 reservists
Iran's Armed Forces have about 420,000 troops. This includes
350,000 servicemen in the Army
37,000 personnel in the Air Force
15,000 in the Air Defense forces
The Islamic Republic also has a 230,000 troop-strong force of elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) troops – 150,000 in the Ground Forces, 40,000 paramilitaries, 20,000 in the IRGC Navy and 15,000 in the IRGC Air and Air Defense Forces. Iran also has at least 350,000 trained reserve personnel to call up in the event of a crisis.
28 October 2023, 18:44 GMT
In 2022, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute calculated Israel’s defense budget at about $23.4 billion (including $3.18 billion in annual US military aid).
Iran had a defense budget equivalent to about $6.8 billion the same year. The Islamic Republic makes up for its smaller budget by lower operating and arms procurement costs, plus a strategy focused on asymmetric solutions – such as converting old oil tankers into floating forward base ships, and the creation of vast, low cost fleets of gunboats for coastal defense.
Both countries have large domestic defense industries allowing for the production of everything from small arms and tanks to drones and missiles. Israel has built up its defense sector in cooperation with the US, while Iran – subject to decades of sanctions, looking inward to produce as much of its defense needs as possible domestically.
Israel is likely to have an important trump card: nuclear weapons. While neither confirming nor denying its possession of such arms (in a policy known as “deliberate ambiguity”) Israel is suspected of having up to 80 air and missile-deliverable nukes.
Iran, by comparison, has rejected nuclear weapons – and all other weapons of mass destruction, in favor of a vast conventional missile arsenal – but has a trump card of a different sort: the ability to close the Hormuz Strait, essentially giving it the power to collapse Western economies in case of aggression by starving them of up to 30 percent of all maritime crude oil deliveries.
5 December 2023, 14:31 GMT
Fighting over a dozen wars and insurgencies both with neighboring countries and with the Palestinians from 1948 onward, Israel is by far the most battle-hardened military in the Middle East. However, the ongoing conflict in Gaza has demonstrated that combat prowess is not something passed on between generations, with the IDF experiencing
considerable problems fighting Hamas and other militias in Gaza, with the pace of operations against the 25,000-40,000 troop force much slower than expected, and casualties already the heaviest among any 21st century conflict involving Israel to date.
Iran also has considerable combat experience. The 1979 Islamic Revolution was forged in the fires of a brutal conflict with Iraq which lasted through most of the 1980s, in which up to 600,000 Iranian and 500,000 Iraqi troops and over 100,000 mostly Iranian civilians were killed. In the decades since, Iran’s military gained combat experience in multiple other conflicts – from domestic insurgencies to IRGC advisory assistance provided to Hezbollah against Israel during the 2006 Lebanon War, and to the Syrian and Iraqi governments during the fight against an array of foreign-backed jihadists in the 2010s.
If the crisis between Iran and Israel turned hot, both sides' allies would be unlikely to sit on the sidelines.
Israel's top ally and sponsor is the United States - which has over half-a-dozen major military bases ringing Iran in the Persian Gulf and Arabia, and additional facilities in nations including Iraq, Jordan, Syria and Turkiye. The US presence in the region includes the mighty Fifth Fleet, include a forward deployed carrier strike group, expeditionary, logistics, mining/demining, submarine, and reconnaissance forces. The US has used the Fifth Fleet extensively for wars of aggression in the Middle East and Afghanistan throughout the past two decades.
Iran, for its part, has an array of state and non-state allies of its own across the region known as the 'Axis of Resistance', which includes Syria, Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces militias (which are formally a part of Iraq's security forces), Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah militias, and, by some accounts - Yemen's battle-hardened Houthis.
The Islamic Republic has also got some powerful global actors in its corner, with Russia and China - even if they don't take part in hostilities directly, likely to do their best at venues like the UN, and at the regional and bilateral level within the BRICS+ bloc and with their Shanghai Cooperation Organization partners, to try to resolve a conflict as soon as possible, and punish aggressors using economic, diplomatic and other means.
