Ashish Ranjan
Iran to buy Su-35 fighter jets: Iran has achieved an agreement with Russia to purchase advanced Su-35 fighter planes, Iranian state media reported on Saturday, expanding a relationship in which Iran-made drones have been used in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“The Sukhoi-35 fighter planes are technically acceptable to Iran, and Tehran has finalised a purchase contract for them,” Iran’s mission to the United Nations was quoted as saying in New York by IRIB.
The report contained no Russian corroboration of the agreement, the details of which were withheld. IRIB reported that the mission stated Iran had also inquired about purchasing military aircraft from unnamed nations.
In Tehran last July, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, emphasising closer ties despite Western pressure over the Ukraine conflict.
Iran has admitted shipping drones to Russia, but claims they were sent prior to Russia’s 2014 invasion of Ukraine. Moscow denies that its forces in Ukraine employ Iranian-made drones, despite the fact that many have been fired down and recovered in Ukraine.Iran’s air force has only a few dozen strike aircraft, including Russian jets and ageing U.S. models obtained prior to the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
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In 2018, Iran announced it had begun manufacturing the indigenously designed Kowsar fighter for its air force. Some military experts assume the aircraft is an exact replica of the F-5, which was first manufactured in the United States in the 1960s.
