Iran and Saudi Arabia are often used as allies of the Shiite and Sunni states of the Middle East, respectively. Iran's theocratic unity and Saudi monarchy are quite unique among the political systems of countries in the world today, but a closer look at the political systems of the two countries shows obvious differences: Iran retains a constitution, parliament, and democratically elected government. Iran is in fact based on constitutional principles in the administration of state administration. This is very different from saudi Arabia's political ecology, which has no constitution, no parliament, no elected government, and no political party activities.
Iran's top-level regime is designed to be theocratic rule of theocracy, but Iranian folk life is relatively more secular. You know, Saudi Arabia can even allow women to drive on the road, which can become an international sensation. In addition to comparing the political systems of Iran and Saudi Arabia, the international community is also keen to compare the strengths of the two countries. Israel, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are the six great powers of the Middle East in the traditional sense. Since Iraq was crippled by a joint force of the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries in 2003, there are still five major powers left in the Middle East: Israel, Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.
As for who is stronger in these five countries, it is often fair to say that it is justified and that it is reasonable to say that it is reasonable. The top five in the Middle East, China's largest land area is Saudi Arabia, and the most populous is Egypt. The Strait of Hormuz, which Iran is holding in the top five, is a "maritime lifeline" related to the trade and energy security of all countries in the world; Turkey is the crossroads connecting Europe with Asia, the Black Sea with the Mediterranean; Egypt's Suez Canal is an important hub for international shipping. Therefore, all three countries have a prominent strategic position in terms of geographical location. Iran and Saudi Arabia, one of the top five, are the world's most important energy powers.
In the top five, Israel's economic aggregate and industrial system are far superior to the other four countries. As for the respective military strength of the five countries, it is more controversial. Israel is the strongest in terms of the modernization and advancement of weapons and equipment, but Israel has always been constrained by strategic depth and limited human resources. Even if the other four countries lose once, it will not affect the basic lifeline, but Israel is in danger of destroying the country as long as it is defeated once. In general, each of the five countries has its own strengths and weaknesses. If we measure our respective strengths from different perspectives such as territory, population, geography, economy, and military strength, we can draw different conclusions.
Strictly speaking, there is no regional hegemony in the Middle East, because the five powers have in fact formed a strategic balance between each other. Among the top five, the most commonly used for comparison are Iran and Saudi Arabia, which are the leaders of the Shiite and Sunni states in the Middle East. Iran has an area of about 1.645 million square kilometers; Saudi Arabia has an area of about 2.25 million square kilometers. The population of Iran is about 81.65 million; The population of Saudi Arabia is about 34.81 million. Iran's economy totals about $430 billion; Saudi Arabia's economy totals about $721 billion.
Iran's territory is about 73% of Saudi Arabia's territory, its population is about 2.35 times that of Saudi Arabia, and its total economic output is about 59.64% of Saudi Arabia's. 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. This accounts for one-tenth of the world's oil resources. Iran's proven natural gas reserves are the second largest in the world. Saudi Arabia, the world's second largest reserve of proven oil after Canada, has 24% of the world's total oil exploration, and Saudi Arabia's natural gas reserves also rank sixth in the world.
Saudi Arabia is almost entirely dependent on oil exports, a pillar industry, but has never developed its own industrial and agricultural system. Iran, which has long suffered from Western sanctions, needs to rely on itself in many things, so Iran's comprehensive production capacity is relatively strong. Iran has made achievements in the field of basic industries and in some important areas of scientific research. As early as 2002, about 150,000 Iranians were engaged in the itinous technology industry. There were 1,200 registered IT companies in Iran at the time. As of 2008, Iran's software exports had reached $50 billion.
In the same year, Iran successfully launched the "Messenger" rocket and launched a homemade artificial satellite 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. Today, Iran's food production has become self-sufficient, and its foreign exchange reserves are generally on the rise year by year.
Overall, Saudi Arabia and Iran have their own advantages in terms of economic level: Saudi Arabia wins in terms of per capita income level is higher, and Iran wins in the industrial system is more perfect. After comparing the economic strength of the two countries, let's look at the comparison of the military strength of the two countries: the total active strength of Iran's military armed forces, composed of regular troops and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, is about 545,000 people, in addition to Iran's 350,000 paramilitary troops, and in wartime, Iran's strength can be expanded to 1 million. This compares with the total strength of the Saudi armed forces in active service at about 232,900. Iran's active troops are about 2.34 times larger than Saudi Arabia's.
As a well-known dog in the international arms purchase market, Saudi Arabia has always spent thousands of dollars when buying weapons. For years Saudi Arabia has been equipped with a seemingly powerful armed force by buying and buying around the world. At present, the Saudi Army has 1142 tanks, 5472 armored vehicles, 524 self-propelled guns, 432 towed artillery and 322 missile launchers; The Saudi Navy has 7 frigates, 4 cruisers, 11 patrol boats and 3 mine ships; The Saudi Air Force has 203 fighter jets, 284 attack aircraft, 211 transport aircraft, 244 trainer aircraft, 254 helicopters and 22 attack helicopters.
In contrast, the Iranian Army has about 1,400 main battle tanks, nearly 100 armored reconnaissance vehicles, thousands of infantry fighting vehicles and armored transport vehicles, about 2,000 towed artillery, and about 300 self-propelled guns; The Iranian Navy has 3 Russian-made Kilo-class submarines, 3 destroyers, 3 frigates and 12 corvettes. The Iranian Air Force has 16 attack/fighter squadrons, 1 reconnaissance aircraft squadron, 1 refueling/transport aircraft squadron, 5 transport aircraft squadrons, 5 surface-to-air missile squadrons and 16 surface-to-air missile battalions. On the surface, the size and level of armament of the Saudi army are first-class in the Middle East.
But the actual combat effectiveness of the Saudi army is really not flattering. This was evident in the clashes with yemen's Houthi armed forces: the F-15, as an advanced symbol of American equipment, has long been known for its zero-loss achievements, but the F-15 purchased by Saudi Arabia at great expense has been defeated by the Houthis. The Saudi commander in Yemen, along with other senior officers, was killed by the Houthis in a single battle and killed more than 100 people. The Houthis have not only repeatedly thwarted Saudi forces in Yemen, but have even fired missiles at airports in the Saudi capital.
Remember that the Houthis are one of the Shiite forces supported by Iran. Since Saudi Arabia can't even beat a little brother supported by Iran, it is impossible to beat Iran, the big boss behind the scenes. When we evaluate a country's military strength, we must not only look at the size of the army and weapons and equipment, but also see the potential strength of military industry, economic support, strategic depth, and combat literacy of officers and men. Iran's light and heavy industries and military industries are far from Being comparable to Saudi Arabia: Iran can independently develop medium-range missiles and ordinary missiles. This is in stark contrast to Saudi Arabia, which lacks an independent defense industry and can only rely on buying and buying equipment for troops.
Overall, Iran is stronger than Saudi Arabia, but it cannot be considered a hegemon in the Middle East. Iran, as a predominantly Persian Shiite country, is a minority in the Middle East, and Saudi Arabia can take advantage of the ethnic sectarian disputes to unite Arab Sunni countries to form an anti-Iranian alliance. In addition, Saudi Arabia is an important strategic ally of the United States in the Middle East, while Iran is a country that has long suffered from US sanctions. Saudi Arabia, which is inferior to Iran in its own strength, can still form a strategic balance with Iran with the support of Western countries such as the United States and Arab Sunni countries.
Iran's own strength does have a comparative advantage over Saudi Arabia, but the two sides are still generally in a strategic balance in the real environment of the Middle East. What's more, except for Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkey, and Egypt are not fuel-saving lamps. External powers such as the United States and Russia do not want to see a regional hegemon in the Middle East, because the Middle East is in a state of leaderlessness and scattered sand, which is more convenient to obtain local benefits. The last person to want to become the hegemon of the Middle East was Iraq's Saddam Hussein. Not only did Iraq not become the hegemon, but it was beaten out of the ranks of the middle eastern powers.