Francevs Iran
On Global Firepower's 2026 index, France (#6) holds a solid edge over Iran (#16).
- France has nuclear weapons; Iran has none.
- France has aircraft carriers; Iran has none.
- France has destroyers; Iran has none.
Who leads in each area
- People and moneyIran leads 3 of 4
- Land forcesIran leads 4 of 5
- Air powerFrance leads 6 of 7
- Naval forcesFrance leads 4 of 7
- Nuclear weaponsFrance leads 2 of 2
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.
$68.0B
Military spending
$7.4B264K
Active personnel
610K43K
Reserves
350K150K
Paramilitary
220KSpending is SIPRI's 2025 estimate in US dollars (France: 2% of GDP; Iran: 2.1% of GDP).
Land forces
Armour and artillery: the weight an army can put on the ground.
427
Tanks
2,675111K
Armored vehicles
76K74
Self-propelled artillery
4240
Towed artillery
1,8039
Rocket artillery
1,550Air power
Fixed-wing and rotary aircraft across all branches.
974
Total aircraft
551223
Fighters
1880
Attack aircraft
21452
Helicopters
12967
Attack helicopters
1315
Tankers
6118
Transports
86Naval forces
Hull counts, from carriers down to patrol boats.
166
Total fleet
1091
Aircraft carriers
03
Helicopter carriers
09
Submarines
2511
Destroyers
05
Frigates
70
Corvettes
3Nuclear weapons
Estimated warheads in military stockpiles, January 2026.
290
Warheads
0280
Deployed warheads
0Compare other countries
Related matchups
- IranvsIsrael
- IranvsSaudi Arabia
- United StatesvsIran
- TurkeyvsIran
- United KingdomvsFrance
- GermanyvsFrance
- RussiavsFrance
- PakistanvsIran
Profiles: France and Iran. Sources: Global Firepower 2026, SIPRI Military Expenditure 2025 (Apr 2026), SIPRI Yearbook 2026: World Nuclear Forces.