Iran completes purchase of Russian fighter jets

According to official media, Iran and Russia have finalized a deal for Iran to purchase Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets as their defense cooperation grows.

Sanctioned countries’ air force Iran’s aircraft fleet is aging, and it has had difficulty obtaining spare parts to keep its jets in the air.

After the Iran-Iraq war of 1980–88, Tehran claimed in a declaration to the UN that it approached “countries to buy fighter jets” to restock its fleet.

According to a statement published late Friday by the official IRNA news agency, “Russia stated it was ready to sell them” when UN Resolution 2231’s ban on Iran obtaining conventional weapons expires in October 2020.

“The Sukhoi 35 fighter jets were technically acceptable for Iran,” it added.

In the past year, Tehran and Moscow have developed close military and other cooperation.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February of last year, Kiev has accused Tehran of providing Moscow with Shahed-136 “kamikaze” drones used in attacks on civilian targets. The Islamic Republic denies this accusation.

The growing military cooperation between Iran and Russia has alarmed the United States. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby warned in December that Russia appeared likely to sell Iran its fighter jets.

According to Kirby, Sukhoi airplanes may be delivered to Tehran within the next year, which would “substantially enhance Iran’s air force relative to its neighboring neighbors” and allow Iranian pilots to train in Russia.

Iran presently possesses largely Soviet-era MiG and Sukhoi fighter jets from Russia as well as some F-7 aircraft from China.

Its fleet also includes American F-4 and F-5 fighter jets manufactured before the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

In 2019, a year after unilaterally exiting the Iran nuclear deal under then-president Donald Trump, the United States started reimposing sanctions on Iran.

In exchange for limitations on its shady nuclear program, Iran received reprieve from international sanctions under the 2015 agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.