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Military power of NATO & Iran

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NATO vs Iran

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NATO Iran

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (North Atlantic Alliance) is an intergovernmental military alliance which was signed in Washington on 4 April 1949. NATO is a system of collective security: its independent member states agree to defend each other against attacks by others countries. NATO's main headquarters are located in Brussels. The following twelve states signed the treaty and became the founding members: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, United Kingdom and United States. The following states joined the treaty after 1949: Greece, Germany, Turkey and Spain. Members who joined after the dissolution of the Soviet Union: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Albania, Croatia, Montenegro and North Macedonia.

Before and during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, several NATO countries sent army to reinforce the alliance's eastern flank. Alliance had deployed 40,000 troops along its 2,500 kilometres long Eastern flank to deter possible Russian aggression. On 5 July the North Atlantic Alliance members signed off on the accession protocols for Sweden and Finland and formally approved the decisions of the NATO summit.

Finland joined the alliance on 4 April 2023.

Iran is a country located in Middle East with an area of 1,648,195 km2 (land boundries: 5,894 km and costline 2,440 km - note: Iran also borders the Caspian Sea (740 km)). The capital of Iran is Tehran. The number of inhabitants is 83,183,741.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was formed in May 1979. The IRGC was a highly institutionalized and parallel military force to Iran’s regular armed forces. The Iranian military's inventory includes a mix of domestically-produced and mostly older foreign equipment largely of Chinese, Russian, Soviet, and US origin. Iran has a defense industry with the capacity to develop, produce, support, and sustain air, land, missile, and naval weapons programs.

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If you want to check the comparison in terms of economic ratios check out CompareEconomy.com

Military expenditures

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Military budget: 1157.71 billion $ 25 billion $
Percent of GDP: 0% 2.5%

Military budget

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Highest value in the world: 816 billion $ (USA)
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Manpower

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Active personnel: 3,142,889 610,000
Reserve personnel: 2,748,132 350,000
Available for military: 206,903,543 23,619,215

Active

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Highest value in the world: 2,035,000 (China)
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Land Forces

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Tanks: 14,125 2,842
Armoured fighting vehicles: 86,709 3,555
Total artillery: 12,997 4,873
Self-propelled artillery: 4,359 1,030
Rocket artillery: 2,485 1,755

Tanks

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Highest value in the world: 12,267 (Russia)
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Air Forces

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Total aircraft: 21,104 973
Fighter aircraft: 1,104 112
Multirole aircraft: 3,586 75
Attack aircraft: 728 23
Helicopters: 8,293 519
UCAV (combat drone): 556 83

Total aircraft

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Highest value in the world: 12,930 (USA)
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Navy

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Total naval: 1,916 272
Aircraftcarriers: 28 0
Destroyers: 119 0
Frigates: 113 6
Corvettes: 54 3
Submarines: 144 19

Total naval

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Highest value in the world: 967 (North Korea)
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Nuclear weapons

NATO

Data not available

Iran

Does not have nuclear weapons.

Military service

NATO

Data not available

Iran

18 years of age for compulsory military service; 16 years of age for volunteers; 17 years of age for Law Enforcement Forces; 15 years of age for Basij Forces (Popular Mobilization Army); conscript military service obligation is 18 months; women exempt from military service.