- Iran has helped Russia by providing weapons for use in Ukraine.
- That worries the US, which sees it as part of a growing Russia-Iran defense partnership.
- But there are indications that the Russian government may not be able to honor the deal it made with Tehran.
Less than a year ago, the White House warned of “unprecedented” military ties between Russia and Iran, but now there are signs of growing friction as Russia proves to be an unreliable partner.
Late last year, months of fighting in Ukraine threatened to deplete Russia’s missile arsenal, so Iran agreed to supply Moscow with weapons, mainly Shahed-136 unidirectional strike drones, which Russia has used to attack Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.
In December, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said: Said Iran and Russia had formed a “total defense partnership” that threatened the Middle East and the wider world. “Support flows in both directions,” Kirby said, adding that Moscow was providing Tehran with “unprecedented levels of military and technical support.”
As part of this burgeoning partnership, Iran expected to receive an unspecified number of Russian-made Su-35 fighter jets. helicopter And even the advanced S-400 air defense system. However, there is no indication that Iran has received any equipment or will receive any in the near future.
An Iranian MiG-29 during the Army Day military parade in Tehran, April 2008.
Reuters/Morteza Nicobazl
Analysts had expected Iran to receive at least 24 Su-35s – aircraft built by Russia for Egypt as part of an order that were later canceled – in the near future, but recent statements from Iranian officials have given optimism that the first fighter jets would arrive in months if not weeks, suggesting they are unsure if fighters will arrive within the next few years.
it’s outrageous report Tehran-based journalist Saeed Azimi, who spoke on condition of anonymity, cited a current Iranian diplomat and a former Iranian diplomat who said Iran “paid in full” for the Su-3550 aircraft during the second term of former President Hassan Rouhani, who left office in August 2021.
The figure of 50 Su-35s was not publicly available prior to Azimi’s article, but it is consistent with Iran’s longstanding estimate. 64 new fighters needed It aims to modernize its aging fleet, which consists mostly of American-made jets acquired before the 1979 Revolution.
Moscow has promised to deliver the Su-35 by 2023, but diplomats quoted by Azimi question whether that will happen. “Iranian officials are embarrassed by Russia’s failure to honor its promises,” Azimi wrote.
President Putin and President Rouhani at a summit meeting in Aktau, Kazakhstan in August 2018.
Sputnik/Alexei Nikolsky/Kremlin via Reuters
In a further blow, in July the Russian government backed a joint Gulf Cooperation Council statement supporting the United Arab Emirates’ claims to three small but important islands in the Persian Gulf near the Strait of Hormuz: Abu Musa, Greater Tumbuh and Lesser Tumbuh. Iran has controlled the islands since 1971 and occupied them after Britain withdrew from the area. The UAE, formed in the same year, has continued to claim their sovereignty ever since.
Iran has summoned the Russian ambassador and asked Russia to “rectify its position”, which the Iranian government must view as unacceptable interference in its internal affairs.
By endorsing the GCC statement, Russia shows that despite ostensibly a strategic partnership, it still seeks to balance its ties with Iran and the Arab Gulf states. Moscow has important economic ties with Arab countries, which have grown even stronger since it attacked Ukraine last year.
Interestingly, in response to Russia’s move, Iranian state media downplayed the partnership between the two countries, calling it merely tactical and Moscow is not a strategic ally.
The head of the British Secret Intelligence Service, Richard Moore, said this week that Iran is seeking cash by selling arms to Russia, and this appears to be gaining momentum. previous report Tehran has said it sold Moscow drone technology for $900 million, paid for in US dollars, suggesting Iran is seeking a business relationship with Russia rather than a strategic defense partnership.
An S-200 surface-to-air missile at a base south of Tehran in November 2009.
Reuters/Fars News/Ali Shaegan
Iran has not sold weapons to Russia in recent months, but Russia has sold significant military equipment to Tehran in the past. After the Iran-Iraq war ended in August 1988, the Soviet Union gave Tehran a “blank check” to purchase any conventional weapons it wanted.
At that time, the Soviet Union was offering 72 MiG-29 fighters, 24 MiG-31 fighters and 36 Su-24MK tactical bombers. But Tehran was cash-strapped after eight years of war with its neighbor. could only afford A small number of MiG-29s and Su-24MKs, as well as S-200 air defense systems. Moscow delivered the aircraft in 1990 and 1991.
those sales were recent explained as “the most important acquisition of military technology by the Islamic Republic ever, and perhaps still today.”
Russia’s arms sales to Iran continue, but they have not reached the level of those fleeting days of friendship, when Russia and Tehran were not even allies, nor did they have a formal alliance or partnership as we would say today.
Russia sold Iran Only six relatively low-tech Su-25 attack aircraft in the 2000s. In 2007, Iran signed an $800 million contract for Russia’s S-300 air defense system, but the Russian government refused to deliver for almost a decade and only handed it over in 2016.
An Iranian Su-24 fighter jet during the April 2012 Army Day parade.
Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images
The UN arms embargo on Iran officially expired in October 2020, leaving no international restrictions available to Russia as an excuse to refuse to hand over weapons Iran has already paid for.
As the partnership between the two countries seems increasingly one-sided, Iranians may wonder what they are getting militarily and politically from helping Russia. Moore and US CIA Director William Burns say there are already signs of that.
“Iran’s decision to provide Russia with suicide drones to quell random destruction of Ukrainian cities has sparked internal conflict at the highest levels of the Tehran regime,” Moore said Wednesday.
“Iran’s leadership has been hesitant to provide ballistic missiles to Russia, but this is also on their wish list, in part because Russia is concerned not only with our reaction but with Europe’s reaction as well,” Barnes said Thursday, adding that there were signs of that in the United States as well.
Paul Idon is a freelance journalist and columnist who writes on development, military, political and historical issues in the Middle East. His articles have appeared in various publications focused on the region.