as Washington and Tehran continue to
exchange ultimatums naturally attention
is drawn to whether Iran has what it
takes to confront arguably the world's
most powerful military conn-young or
zooms in on the country's capabilities
the United States has the strongest
military in the world but how does Iran
stack up according to an annual review
by the military ranking website global
firepower Tehran sits at 14th place out
of 137 countries Iran has an estimated
523 thousand active personnel in its
Army Navy Air Force and the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard corpse its defense
budget last year was about six point
three billion US dollars a pale shadow
of America's 716 billion Iran's land
power includes some 8,500 tanks rocket
launchers and artillery its naval power
consists of almost 400 ships and
submarines and it's Air Force a little
over 500 planes and helicopters
according to the Center for Strategic
and International Studies Iran has the
largest and most diverse arsenal of
missiles in the Middle East with
thousands of short and medium-range
ballistic and cruise missiles the
Islamic Republic is capable of striking
targets as far away as Israel and
southeastern Europe a US Defense
Department report on Iran's military
power says Tehran has been testing space
technology to develop intercontinental
missiles which can travel a minimum
range of 5,500 kilometers released in
November the report pointed out that
Iran's naval forces benefit from the
state's geostrategic position in the
region which enables them to threaten
navigation in the Persian Gulf and the
Strait of Hormuz the Pentagon's report
added that Tehran has seen rapid
progress in advancing its unmanned
aerial vehicle capabilities conn-young
Arirang news
