Iranvs Ukraine
On Global Firepower's 2026 index, Iran (#16) holds a narrow edge over Ukraine (#20).
- Iran has submarines; Ukraine has none.
- Ukraine spends 11× as much on its military.
- Iran fields 2.4× as many tanks.
Who leads in each area
- People and moneyUkraine leads 3 of 4
- Land forcesIran leads 4 of 5
- Air powerIran leads 4 of 7
- Naval forcesIran leads 3 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
$84.1B610K
Active personnel
900K350K
Reserves
4M220K
Paramilitary
100KSpending is SIPRI's 2025 estimate in US dollars (Iran: 2.1% of GDP; Ukraine: 40% of GDP).
Land forces
Armour and artillery: the weight an army can put on the ground.
2,675
Tanks
1,12176K
Armored vehicles
45K424
Self-propelled artillery
6821,803
Towed artillery
6251,550
Rocket artillery
288Air power
Fixed-wing and rotary aircraft across all branches.
551
Total aircraft
347188
Fighters
8821
Attack aircraft
30129
Helicopters
14013
Attack helicopters
396
Tankers
086
Transports
22Naval forces
Hull counts, from carriers down to patrol boats.
109
Total fleet
1690
Aircraft carriers
00
Helicopter carriers
025
Submarines
00
Destroyers
07
Frigates
03
Corvettes
0Nuclear weapons
Estimated warheads in military stockpiles, January 2026.
0
Warheads
00
Deployed warheads
0Compare other countries
Related matchups
- RussiavsUkraine
- IranvsIsrael
- IranvsSaudi Arabia
- United StatesvsIran
- TurkeyvsIran
- PakistanvsIran
- UkrainevsPoland
Profiles: Iran and Ukraine. Sources: Global Firepower 2026, SIPRI Military Expenditure 2025 (Apr 2026), SIPRI Yearbook 2026: World Nuclear Forces.