Iranvs Japan
On Global Firepower's 2026 index, Japan (#7) holds a solid edge over Iran (#16).
- Japan has destroyers; Iran has none.
- Japan spends 8.4× as much on its military.
- Iran fields 3.6× as many tanks.
Who leads in each area
- People and moneyIran leads 3 of 4
- Land forcesIran leads 5 of 5
- Air powerJapan leads 6 of 7
- Naval forcesJapan leads 4 of 7
- Nuclear weaponsEven, 0–0
Leads count raw numbers in each category. Larger is not always stronger: a modern fleet can beat a bigger, older one.
People and money
Who can be put in uniform, and how much is spent keeping them there.
$7.4B
Military spending
$62.2B610K
Active personnel
252K350K
Reserves
56K220K
Paramilitary
25KSpending is SIPRI's 2025 estimate in US dollars (Iran: 2.1% of GDP; Japan: 1.4% of GDP).
Land forces
Armour and artillery: the weight an army can put on the ground.
2,675
Tanks
73476K
Armored vehicles
54K424
Self-propelled artillery
1931,803
Towed artillery
4801,550
Rocket artillery
99Air power
Fixed-wing and rotary aircraft across all branches.
551
Total aircraft
1,429188
Fighters
21721
Attack aircraft
47129
Helicopters
58313
Attack helicopters
1186
Tankers
1086
Transports
53Naval forces
Hull counts, from carriers down to patrol boats.
109
Total fleet
1580
Aircraft carriers
00
Helicopter carriers
425
Submarines
230
Destroyers
417
Frigates
83
Corvettes
0Nuclear weapons
Estimated warheads in military stockpiles, January 2026.
0
Warheads
00
Deployed warheads
0Compare other countries
Related matchups
- IranvsIsrael
- ChinavsJapan
- IranvsSaudi Arabia
- United StatesvsIran
- TurkeyvsIran
- JapanvsSouth Korea
- JapanvsRussia
- North KoreavsJapan
Profiles: Iran and Japan. Sources: Global Firepower 2026, SIPRI Military Expenditure 2025 (Apr 2026), SIPRI Yearbook 2026: World Nuclear Forces.