Iran to purchase Su-35 fighter jets from Russia: Iranian broadcaster

Iran has reached a deal to purchase superior Su-35 fighter planes from Russia.

Dubai,UPDATED: Mar 12, 2023 12:36 IST

Sukhoi Su-35 jet fighter drives alongside the airfield throughout International military-technical discussion board “Army-2020” at Kubinka airbase in Moscow Region August 25, 2020. (Reuters picture)

By Reuters: Iran has reached a deal to purchase superior Su-35 fighter planes from Russia, Iranian state media stated on Saturday, increasing a relationship that has seen Iranian-built drones utilized in Russia’s struggle on Ukraine.

“The Sukhoi-35 fighter planes are technically acceptable to Iran and Iran has finalised a contract for their purchase,” the broadcaster IRIB quoted Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York as saying.

IRIB’s report didn’t carry any Russian affirmation of the deal, particulars of which weren’t disclosed. The mission stated Iran had additionally inquired about shopping for army plane from a number of different unnamed international locations, IRIB reported.

Iran’s buy of Russian fighter jets was first reported by information web site Semafor on Thursday.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin met Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran final July, stressing nearer ties within the face of Western strain over the struggle in Ukraine.

Iran has acknowledged sending drones to Russia however says they had been despatched earlier than Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine final yr. Moscow denies that its forces use Iranian-built drones in Ukraine, though many have been shot down and recovered there.

Iran’s air drive has just a few dozen strike plane, together with Russian jets in addition to ageing U.S. fashions acquired earlier than the Iranian revolution of 1979.

In 2018, Iran stated it had began manufacturing of the locally-designed Kowsar fighter to be used in its air drive. Some army consultants imagine the jet is a carbon copy of an F-5, first produced within the United States within the Sixties.

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Published On:

Mar 12, 2023