Military Power.net

Iranvs Taiwan

On Global Firepower's 2026 index, Iran (#16) holds a solid edge over Taiwan (#22).

  • Taiwan has destroyers; Iran has none.
  • Iran fields 6.3× as many submarines.
  • Iran has 2.7× as many active troops.
  1. People and moneyEven, 2–2
  2. Land forcesIran leads 4 of 5
  3. Air powerTaiwan leads 4 of 7
  4. Naval forcesTaiwan leads 3 of 7
  5. 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
$18.2B
610K
Active personnel
230K
350K
Reserves
1.66M
220K
Paramilitary
55K

Spending is SIPRI's 2025 estimate in US dollars (Iran: 2.1% of GDP; Taiwan: 2.1% of GDP).

Land forces

Armour and artillery: the weight an army can put on the ground.

2,675
Tanks
1,090
76K
Armored vehicles
24K
424
Self-propelled artillery
488
1,803
Towed artillery
1,360
1,550
Rocket artillery
223

Air power

Fixed-wing and rotary aircraft across all branches.

551
Total aircraft
720
188
Fighters
258
21
Attack aircraft
0
129
Helicopters
239
13
Attack helicopters
91
6
Tankers
0
86
Transports
19

Naval forces

Hull counts, from carriers down to patrol boats.

109
Total fleet
91
0
Aircraft carriers
0
0
Helicopter carriers
0
25
Submarines
4
0
Destroyers
4
7
Frigates
21
3
Corvettes
7

Nuclear weapons

Estimated warheads in military stockpiles, January 2026.

0
Warheads
0
0
Deployed warheads
0

Compare other countries

Related matchups

Profiles: Iran and Taiwan. Sources: Global Firepower 2026, SIPRI Military Expenditure 2025 (Apr 2026), SIPRI Yearbook 2026: World Nuclear Forces.