Iran beside 8 other states of the region on 7 indicators: personnel, military spending, and arms bought and sold. Every figure stands with its year and its source. None of them says who is stronger.
Each bar is drawn against the larger figure of its own row; every figure stands beside its year, and the years are not always the same. The source and the terms of each indicator are on its own card, further down this page.
Iran in the region: armed forces
Iran beside 8 other states of the region, on data the World Bank publishes. Every figure stands beside its year.
First power of the region
One of the three goals of Divan's advisors is that Iran becomes the first power of its region. These few figures show the starting point: Iran's place among 9 states, in the latest year for which the World Bank has a figure.
Armed forces personnel
Iran: rank 3 of 9
Military personnel on active duty; paramilitary forces are counted, reservists are not.
The volume of major arms delivered to the country in a year (bought, given, or built under licence), in SIPRI's own unit. The unit measures volume, not price; it cannot be set beside dollars or military spending.
The volume of major arms the country delivered to others in a year (sold, given, or licensed for production), in SIPRI's own unit. The unit measures volume, not price.
These figures say nothing about quality, technology, training, reserves or allies. Arms deliveries also swing from year to year: one year's figure does not show a trend.
These are only a few indicators from one portal, World Bank Open Data. “Military expenditure in US dollars” and “Military expenditure as a share of GDP” and “Military expenditure as a share of government spending” and “Arms imports” and “Arms exports” are not open data: they are shown under the source's own terms (SIPRI terms and conditions). The years differ; the newest figure in this block is for 2025. So none of them reflects the war that began on 28 Feb 2026. Rank means Iran's place among these 9 states, which Divan chose; a state with no figure from 2018 on is not counted. Figures are rounded for reading; ranks and bar lengths are counted from the full values, which are under “Raw data”. The World Bank last updated these series on 8 Oct 2026; we read them on 10 Oct 2026.