Iranvs Italy
On Global Firepower's 2026 index, Italy (#10) holds a solid edge over Iran (#16).
- Italy has aircraft carriers; Iran has none.
- Italy has destroyers; Iran has none.
- Iran fields 13× as many tanks.
Who leads in each area
- People and moneyIran leads 3 of 4
- Land forcesIran leads 4 of 5
- Air powerItaly leads 5 of 7
- Naval forcesItaly 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
$48.1B610K
Active personnel
166K350K
Reserves
18K220K
Paramilitary
105KSpending is SIPRI's 2025 estimate in US dollars (Iran: 2.1% of GDP; Italy: 1.9% of GDP).
Land forces
Armour and artillery: the weight an army can put on the ground.
2,675
Tanks
20376K
Armored vehicles
87K424
Self-propelled artillery
641,803
Towed artillery
1081,550
Rocket artillery
21Air power
Fixed-wing and rotary aircraft across all branches.
551
Total aircraft
714188
Fighters
8821
Attack aircraft
65129
Helicopters
35213
Attack helicopters
376
Tankers
886
Transports
31Naval forces
Hull counts, from carriers down to patrol boats.
109
Total fleet
2850
Aircraft carriers
20
Helicopter carriers
025
Submarines
80
Destroyers
37
Frigates
143
Corvettes
0Nuclear weapons
Estimated warheads in military stockpiles, January 2026.
0
Warheads
00
Deployed warheads
0Compare other countries
Related matchups
- IranvsIsrael
- IranvsSaudi Arabia
- United StatesvsIran
- TurkeyvsIran
- PakistanvsIran
- ItalyvsFrance
- SpainvsItaly
Profiles: Iran and Italy. Sources: Global Firepower 2026, SIPRI Military Expenditure 2025 (Apr 2026), SIPRI Yearbook 2026: World Nuclear Forces.