Israel and Iran: how the military capacities of both countries compare

Historical tensions between Israel and Iran reached one of their most critical points this Friday.

The Israel Army launched multiple attacks against nuclear facilities and other military objectives in Iran during the early morning.

The operation caused the death of Hossein Salami, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard and was answered by Tehran with the sending of 100 drones and later of dozens of missiles that were mostly intercepted.

The offensive occurs hours after, for the first time in 20 years, the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (OIEA) declared in a resolution that they will breach their obligations of non -proliferation of nuclear weapons.

The agency affirms that the “numerous failures” of Iran in providing complete responses about its unpleasant material and nuclear activities “constitute a breach.”

He also expressed concern about Iranian reserves of enriched uranium, which can be used to make fuel for reactors, but also nuclear weapons.

Iran condemned the resolution for considering it “political” and said it would open a new enrichment installation. His government insists that their nuclear activities are peaceful and that it will never try to develop or acquire nuclear weapons.

Israel considers that the perspective of an Iran with nuclear weapons is an existential threat and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been defending a military approach instead of a diplomat.

For years, both countries have been confronted indirectly, through the so -called “resistance axis”, made up of Iran's historical allies in the Middle East: the Government of Syria (which with the fall of Bashar al Assad is no longer considered an ally), the Palestinian group Hamás, the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, the hutis in Yemen, as well as Chiite armed groups in Iraq.

But before this new scenario, how do the military capacities of both countries compare?

The BBC has analyzed this issue using the sources listed below, although each country can have a significant capacity that remains secret.

The International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) compares the fire power of the armies of both countries using a variety of official and open source methods to produce the best possible estimates.

Other organizations, such as the International Institute for Peace Research in Stockholm, also make evaluations, but precision can vary in countries that often do not provide figures.

However, Nicholas Marsh, of the Peace Research Institute of Oslo (Prio), states that the IISS is considered a reference point to evaluate the military force of countries around the world.

IISS says that Israel spends more on its defense budget that will go, which provides significant force in any potential conflict.

The organization explained that Iran's defense budget was around US $ 7,400 million in 2022 and 2023, while Israel's was more than double, around US $ 19,000 million.

Israel's defense expense compared to its gross domestic product (a measure of its economic production) is also twice that of Iran.

The IISS figures show that Israel has 340 military planes ready for combat, which gives it an advantage in precision air attacks.

Among the airplanes are F-15 with long-distance attack scope, F-35 (“furtive” high-tech aircraft that can evade radar) and rapid attack helicopters.

The entity estimates that Iran has about 320 aircraft with combat capacity. Some date back to the 1960s and include F-4, F-5 and F-14 (the latter is the plane that became famous in the 1986 Top Gun film).

But Nicholas Marsh, of the Prio, says that It is not clear how many of these old planes can really flybecause getting spare parts is extremely difficult.

The backbone of Israel's defense column are its iron dome (or iron dome) and arrow systems.

Uzi Rubin missile engineer is the founder of the Israel missile defense organization in the country's ministry of defense.

Rubin, who now works as the main researcher of the Institute of Strategy and Safety of Jerusalem, told the BBC in April last year that he felt very safe when he saw the iron dome and his international allies destroy almost all the missiles and drones that they will then fired against Israel.

“I felt very satisfied and very happy … it is very specialized against its objectives. It is a short -range antimile defense. There is nothing similar in any other (system).”

Israel is more than 2,100 kilometers from Iran.

Its missiles are the main method of attack, the Eye Eye editor, Tim Ripley, tells the BBC.

Iran's missile program is considered the largest and most diverse in the Middle East.

In 2022, General Kenneth McKenzie, of the United States Central Command, said Iran had “more than 3,000” ballistic missiles.

According to the CSIS missile defense project, Israel also exports missiles to several countries.

Iran has carried out extensive work in its missile and drone systems since its war with neighbor Iraq (1980-1988).

He has developed short and long -range missiles and drones.

Analysts studying missiles that have been aimed at Saudi Arabia by the Houthi rebels have concluded that they were manufactured in Iran.

Iran's aging armed has about 220 ships, while Israel's is about 60, according to IISS reports.

Israel has more to lose that they will go in a cyber attack.

Iran's defense system is less technologically advanced than that of Israel, so an electronic attack against the Israeli army could achieve much more.

The National Cybernetics of the Israeli government states that “the intensity of cyber attacks is greater than ever, at least three times greater, and with attacks in all Israeli sectors.” Cooperation between Iran and Hezbollah (the Lebanese militant and politics) increased during the war. “

He informed that among the attacks of Hamas of October 7 and the end of 2023 there were 3,380 cyber attacks.

In December, Iran's Minister of Petroleum, Javad Owji, said a cyber attack caused problems in gas stations throughout the country.

Iran is a country much larger than Israel and its population (about 89 million) is almost ten times greater than that of Israel (almost 10 million).

It also has about six times more soldiers in service than Israel. There are 600,000 active soldiers in Iran, while Israel has 170,000, says Iiss.

*This note was originally published in April 2024 and was updated on the occasion of the attack released by Israel this Friday, June 13. Prepared with information from Arif Shamim (BBC News Urdu) and contributions from Ahmen Khawaja, Carla Rosch and Reza Sabi and Chris Partridge.

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