Iranvs South Korea
On Global Firepower's 2026 index, South Korea (#5) holds a solid edge over Iran (#16).
- South Korea has destroyers; Iran has none.
- South Korea spends 6.5× as much on its military.
- South Korea fields 2.8× as many total aircraft.
Who leads in each area
- People and moneyEven, 2–2
- Land forcesSouth Korea leads 3 of 5
- Air powerSouth Korea leads 5 of 7
- Naval forcesSouth Korea 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
$47.8B610K
Active personnel
450K350K
Reserves
3.1M220K
Paramilitary
120KSpending is SIPRI's 2025 estimate in US dollars (Iran: 2.1% of GDP; South Korea: 2.6% of GDP).
Land forces
Armour and artillery: the weight an army can put on the ground.
2,675
Tanks
1,83176K
Armored vehicles
117K424
Self-propelled artillery
2,7801,803
Towed artillery
5,8001,550
Rocket artillery
525Air power
Fixed-wing and rotary aircraft across all branches.
551
Total aircraft
1,540188
Fighters
24221
Attack aircraft
98129
Helicopters
82713
Attack helicopters
1136
Tankers
486
Transports
40Naval forces
Hull counts, from carriers down to patrol boats.
109
Total fleet
2150
Aircraft carriers
00
Helicopter carriers
225
Submarines
220
Destroyers
147
Frigates
183
Corvettes
3Nuclear weapons
Estimated warheads in military stockpiles, January 2026.
0
Warheads
00
Deployed warheads
0Compare other countries
Related matchups
- North KoreavsSouth Korea
- IranvsIsrael
- IranvsSaudi Arabia
- United StatesvsIran
- TurkeyvsIran
- JapanvsSouth Korea
- PakistanvsIran
Profiles: Iran and South Korea. Sources: Global Firepower 2026, SIPRI Military Expenditure 2025 (Apr 2026), SIPRI Yearbook 2026: World Nuclear Forces.