Iran negotiating massive arms deal with Russia

Iranian negotiations for a massive amount of Russian weaponry have begun amid speculation that the deal could be worth around $10 billion.

Iran is interested in purchasing a massive quantity of Russian weapons, including tanks and fighter jets, and Moscow is ready to develop military and technical cooperation with Tehran, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s director of the Second Asian Department said Monday.

“It is true that the Iranians have a wide range of military-purpose products they would like to purchase in Russia. Naturally, some of these products — tanks and fighter jets — are covered by the UNSC sanctions, because there is a moratorium. It means that if we sign an agreement on the delivery of such products, we have to apply for the UNSC permission in the next five, or rather, the next four years and receive such permission,” the diplomat, Zamir Kabulov, told Russia’s RIA Novosti.

Iran is prohibited from developing nuclear weapons under the terms of the nuclear deal it signed last summer, but can purchase all other types of weapons from other countries, providing the UNSC approves of it.

RIA Novosti reports that negotiations between the countries are already underway and estimates that such a deal could be worth $10 billion.

“There are other goods from the sphere of military and technical cooperation that are not subject [to the UNSC decisions]. There are no problems, but here we should act via the UNSC mechanism, unfortunately,” Kabulov said, according to Russia’s Sputnik news.

Russia has recently delivered S-300 defensive systems to Iran, which will be combat-ready by the end of the year.

By: World Israel News Staff