As neighbors, Pakistan and Iran are both big countries in the Islamic world: Pakistan's land area excluding Pakistani-controlled Kashmir is about 796095 square kilometers, if it includes Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, it is about 880254 square kilometers, and pakistan's population has exceeded 200 million by 2020; Iran's land area is about 1.645 million square kilometers (ranked 17th in the world) and a population of more than 80 million (ranked 17th in the world). Neither of these Islamic powers were Arab countries, but countries belonging to the Aryan race.
Of course, there are also differences between these two deep-rooted neighbors: Pakistan is mainly Sunni Islam, and Iran is mainly Shia. Which of these two Sunni and Shia Islamic powers is more powerful? To compare the strength of the two countries, we can consider it from many aspects: we can compare the hard power of the economic strength and military strength of the two countries; we can compare the people's livelihood and public security environment of the two countries; we can compare the situation of the two countries in international geopolitics...
Previously, in another article, I started to analyze and compare the diplomatic environment and people's living standards of the two countries, so this time I started to compare the hard strengths of the two countries' respective economic strengths, military strength, and scientific and technological strength. Interested friends can put this comparison of hard power with the last comparison of diplomatic and social environments to see a more comprehensive impression of the two countries. Now let's first look at the military strength of Pakistan and Iran.
Both Pakistan and Iran are military powers: Pakistan's advantage lies in the size of the military, nuclear weapons, etc.; Iran's advantage lies in the research and development of military technology. Although India, Pakistan's main rival, is despised by some of us, india's military strength is by no means weak in terms of global strength. The reason why we think That India is not strong is actually because the mainland is too strong. With a total strength of 1.27 million, India's army, navy and air force ranks fourth in the world in terms of size, with more than 500,000 reservists and more than 1 million paramilitary troops.
The Indian Army is far larger than britain and France in terms of numbers and armaments. The Indian Navy is one of the few navies in the world with an aircraft carrier. The Indian Air Force has 535 fighters, 468 attack aircraft, 706 military transport aircraft, 237 trainer aircraft and 504 multi-role helicopters for transport and auxiliary tasks. India is also one of only nine nuclear-armed countries in the world today. Pakistan has also built a world-class team in order to benchmark India in terms of military strength.
Pakistan's active armed forces, with a total strength of 617,000, are the seventh largest active armed forces in the world, and Pakistan has a number of reserve and paramilitary forces. Pakistan, like its old rival India, is one of only nine nuclear-armed countries in the world; Iran, although it has been conducting nuclear research for years, has not developed a nuclear weapon so far. Pakistan surpasses Iran in terms of military size and is significantly stronger than Iran in terms of nuclear weapons, and is equipped with the mainland's advanced J-10C fighters in conventional weapons.
Iran's most advanced fighters are only a handful of Su-33s and MiG-29s. Because Iran has long been sanctioned by Western countries led by the United States, it is difficult to obtain advanced weapons internationally. In general, Pakistan is stronger than Iran in terms of military size and weapons and equipment, but the analysis of a country's military strength can not only look at the size of the force and weapons. It should be said that Pakistan's old rival India and Iran's old rival Saudi Arabia are both big customers in the international arms market. Over the years, India and Saudi Arabia have also created "elite troops" armed to the teeth by buying, buying and buying.
But how did the so-called "elite troops" of India and Saudi Arabia perform in actual combat? India's military scale, weapons and equipment are said to be stronger than Pakistan, but in the past India-Pakistani conflicts, we have not seen how much substantial advantage India has taken. Saudi Arabia can't even defeat the Houthis. Facts have proved that it is impossible to really strengthen the army by buying and buying alone. Only ready-made weapons can be bought in the international arms market, but military research and development technology and tactical literacy cannot be bought. This is also an important reason why India's status as a military power has been repeatedly questioned.
Obviously, the analysis of a country's military strength cannot only look at the current level of weapons and equipment, but also look at the country's military scientific research strength and economic strength. These factors will constitute the potential strength of a country's future military development. Of course, the conversion of potential strength into visible and tangible strength requires a process. Pakistan's overall industrial strength is inferior to that of Iran. Pakistan's military industry is, to a considerable extent, aided by the mainland. Pakistan has been cooperating closely with the mainland since 1962.
At present, many of Pakistan's advanced weapons and equipment are assembled with the help of the mainland. The mainland's close relationship with Pakistan tends to make it easy for some of us to forget the objective fact that Pakistan is an ally of the United States. As early as May 1954, Pakistan signed a mutual defense assistance agreement and a bilateral defense agreement with the United States out of strategic intent to contain India. Pakistan, which was good friends with the United States and China in the midst of the international changes in the 1970s, also played an intermediary role in breaking the ice of Sino-US diplomacy.
It was with the help of pakistan that Nixon's envoy Kissinger was able to get rid of the reporter's secret visit to China. Although Pakistan's relations with the United States have stumbled in recent years due to the proximity of the United States to India, the covenant between Pakistan and the United States has not been abrogated. Pakistan is a non-NATO major ally of the United States, so Pakistan has maintained close military relations with the United States for a long time. This allows Pakistan to import military equipment from Both China and the United States.
Obviously, Pakistan, which has good relations with China and the United States at the same time, has easier access to advanced weapons internationally than Iran, which has been subject to long-term sanctions. However, Pakistan's independent R&D and manufacturing capabilities are not as good as Iran's, and Pakistan's economic size and national financial resources are inferior to Iran's. This requires a comparison of pakistan and Iran's basic industrial capabilities, scientific and technological research and development capabilities, and economic development levels. Iran, like other Middle Eastern countries, uses the export of oil, natural gas and other energy sources as the pillar of its national economy.
Iran is the world's fourth-largest oil producer and OPEC's second-largest oil exporter. Iran's proven oil reserves at the end of 2016 were 158.4 billion barrels (one-tenth of the world's oil resources). Oil foreign exchange earnings make Iran the seventh-largest economy in Asia after China, Japan, India, South Korea, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia. Iran, which has long suffered from Western sanctions, needs to rely on many things, so Iran's comprehensive production capacity is relatively strong. At present, Iran has made achievements in the field of basic industries and some important scientific research areas.
As early as 2002, about 150,000 Iranians were engaged in the itinous technology industry (20,000 of whom were in the software industry). There were 1,200 registered IT companies in Iran at the time. By 2008, Iran's software exports had reached $50 billion. It was also in 2008 that Iran successfully launched the Messenger rocket and sent a homemade artificial satellite called Hope into space. In 2010, Iran became the twelfth largest automobile producer in the world. In recent years, Iran has made remarkable achievements in science and technology, medical treatment, aerospace, defense and heavy industry.
Iran was once ranked 38th in the global industry list by The Economist magazine. It can be said that Iran is a country that has rapidly industrialized under the strong sanctions of Western countries led by the United States. In addition to industry, Iran's agriculture, service industry, and tourism have also made great progress. Today, Iran's food production has become self-sufficient, and its foreign exchange reserves are generally on the rise year by year. Iran is significantly stronger than Pakistan in terms of industrial research and development capabilities and economic development levels. This is actually closely related to the social environment of the two countries.
Iran is a country dominated by Persians who believe in the Shia of Islam, but Iran has full respect for the Azerbaijanis, Armenians, Jews and other minorities in its territory. Today, Iran's supreme religious leader, Khamenei, is an ethnic Azerbaijani. Despite the divisive relations between Iran and Israel in recent years, Iran has never been angry with its own Jews. Today, whenever a Jewish holiday comes, the Iranian government extends its blessings to the Jews at home — in the official Iranian parlance: "We have an opinion on the state of Israel, but not on the Jews."
The harmonious coexistence between the various nationalities and sects in Iran has created a relatively stable foundation for the country's development. Pakistan is also a multi-ethnic country: Punjabis make up about 63% of the population, Sindhis make up about 18% of the total population, Pashtuns account for about 11% of the total population, Balochistans account for about 4% of the total population... Different ethnic groups have different languages, religions and customs. Of course, from the examples of China and Iran, it can be seen that ethnic pluralism is not a problem in itself, because multi-ethnic countries can achieve unity on the basis of mutual respect among all ethnic groups.
However, due to historical reasons, ethnic contradictions in Pakistan are complicated. Pakistan is sometimes divided into many branches and opposed even within a people. The imbalance in economic and cultural development between regions in Pakistan can easily combine people's dissatisfaction with real life with ethnic and religious contradictions. In particular, in some areas such as Balochistan, there are even activities of ethnic separatist forces. Pakistan's complex ethnic, religious and historical relations have made it impossible for Pakistan to get rid of the phenomenon of local powerful families interfering in politics from the day of its founding.
Foreign capital will naturally be deterred by such a politically unstable, frequent terrorist attacks and serious corruption. Due to the limited amount of money and technology that the state can invest, Pakistan's infrastructure construction has been relatively insufficient. Although Pakistan is a country rich in natural resources, the lack of infrastructure has led to the underdevelopment of these resources. At the same time, the lack of infrastructure further leads to the deterrence of foreign investment. This effectively creates a vicious circle.
Foreign investment is prohibitive of Pakistan, which in turn makes foreign investors more reluctant to invest in Pakistan. Therefore, Pakistan's business environment is objectively not ideal. Due to the lack of sufficient funds in the hands of the Pakistani government, and the limited funds must be prioritized for the defense of India, there are indeed very few funds that Pakistan can really use for the welfare of the people. Today, 60.3 percent of Pakistan's population lives on less than $2 a day (less than 13 yuan).
About half of Pakistanis experience varying degrees of malnutrition. Pakistan, with its unsatisfactory economy, is equally unsatisfactory in terms of its security situation: in 2019 alone, there were 370 terrorist attacks (518 deaths in total). Pakistan, with its weak economic base and unsatisfactory security environment, is inferior to Iran in terms of its industrial base manufacturing capacity. Although Iran is currently inferior to Pakistan in terms of armament, iran has an advantage in terms of basic military potential in the long run.