Military Comparison: A War Between Iran and Britain Would Be Long and

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

57% : Indeed, GlobalFirepower.com lists Iran as being stronger than Britain in several categories:
51% : So is Britain or Iran stronger?
48% : Ditto in the air, where Iran's museum mix of a handful of old American-made F-14 and F-4 fighters, Russian-made aircraft that fled from Iraq to Iran and were interned, and Iranian designs such as the Saeqeh, which looks remarkably like the F-5 fighters the U.S. sold to Iran in the 1970s.
47% : "A comparison of the UK and Iran's military strength shows Britain falling behind when it comes to manpower, land and naval strength and petroleum resources," the newspaper proclaimed after Iran seized a British tanker in the Persian Gulf, in retaliation for Britain seizing an Iranian tanker at Gibraltar.
46% : Britain ranks eighth on the "Global Firepower Index," while Iran comes in not far behind in 14th place
44% : Iran has more oil, but weaker finances.
43% : Even with access to bases belonging to Iran's hostile Arab neighbors, the British would still be operating in Iran's home waters, where all the tools of coastal guerrilla warfare - mines, small boat attacks - would be available to Tehran.
40% : First and foremost, while Iran may or may not be developing nuclear weapons, Britain most certainly has them.
39% : Which leaves the more immediate prospect of a limited conflict in the Persian Gulf, most likely a reprise of the 1980s "Tanker War," in which Iran will attack or seize oil tankers in retaliation for economic sanctions, while Britain (and the U.S., and possibly Europe) will attempt to stop them.
39% : In which case, how many tanks Iran and Britain have doesn't matter.
38% : If Iran were to invade Britain, there would be no question of which party is stronger.
37% : Britain and Iran are not in the same league at all.
34% : But that's not the point: Britain isn't sending an armored division to invade Iran.
32% : However, Britain wouldn't use nukes against Iran for political reasons, and Iran would be committing suicide to use them against Britain or anyone else.

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