Russia and Iran are closer than ever before. Amid the raging war in Ukraine, Iran supplied drones to the invading nation and now the Kremlin is reciprocating. Iran will receive Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets by March.
A member of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Shahriar Heidari told the semi-official Tasnim news agency that the Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets that Iran has ordered from Russia are going to arrive in the coming Iranian year, which starts on 21 March.
Iran’s big military order from Russia
The jets are part of a big military order that includes defence systems, missile systems, and helicopters. Iran is also expected to receive 24 twin-engine, highly manoeuvrable fourth-generation fighter jets that will be used primarily for “air superiority missions”, according to media reports.
The combat aircraft will be housed at the Tactical Air Base 8 of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) located in the city of Isfahan in the central part of the country.
Iran will receive Russian Su-35 fighter jets by March under an agreement with Moscow. AFP
According to Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation, the Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jet “combines the qualities of a modern fighter (super-manoeuvrability, superior active and passive acquisition aids, high supersonic speed and long range, capability of managing battle group actions, etc.) and a good tactical airplane (wide range of weapons that can be carried, modern multi-channel electronic warfare system, reduced radar signature, and high combat survivability)”.
The purchase of fighter jets will provide a significant boost to the Iranian Air Force, which has not purchased any new aircraft except a few Russian MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters it purchased in the 1990s.
In December, Western intelligence agencies revealed that Russia planned to offer Iran 24 Su-35 jets in trade for “kamikaze” drones. The planes originally headed for Egypt are being diverted to Iran, reports Eurasian Times.
Also read: Strange partners: How Russians have discovered Iran is worth their attention
The kamikaze drones and the Ukraine war
After losses on the battlefield, Russia started reportedly using Iran-made “kamikaze” drones, the Shahed-136, to counter Ukraine sometime last September.
Low-flying and relatively small, Iran’s kamikaze drones are built to attack ground targets. These delta-winged unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) usually fly in pairs and slam into their targets. Packed with explosives, they can be flown at a tank or a group of troops. These drones are difficult to detect and can be programmed to hit targets without human intervention through the use of facial recognition.
According to intelligence reports, Russia has used hundreds of these weapons to attack Ukraine, targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, civilian buildings, and healthcare facilities.
Last September, Ukraine said it would downgrade diplomatic ties with Iran over Tehran’s “unfriendly” decision to supply Russian forces with drones, Reuters reported.
However, Iran has denied supplying these drones to Moscow. And even Russia’s ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia called the allegations “patently concocted and false”.
Last month, US deputy ambassador Robert Wood told the United Nations Security Council that Ukraine’s report of Iranian-origin drones being used by Russia to attack civilian infrastructure has been supported “by ample evidence from multiple public sources,” including a statement by Iran’s foreign minister on 5 November. He insisted that Iran is barred from transferring these types of drones without prior Security Council approval under an annex to the 2015 resolution, reports The Associated Press.
The United Nations too faced criticism from the United States and several European countries for not launching an investigation into the so-called Iranian-made drones in Ukraine. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a news conference that the UN was “looking into all the aspects of that question and in the broader picture of everything we are doing in the context of the war to determine if and when we should” conduct an investigation.
Iran has delivered the kamikaze drones to Russia to aid its war on Ukraine, an accusation Tehran dismissed as ‘baseless’. AFP
Russia-Iran ties
However, amid all the allegations, Russia and Iran continue to strengthen ties. Both have been targeted by strict Western sanctions – Iran over the 2015 nuclear deal and Russia over the war in Ukraine.
They have in the last few months signed key agreements to strengthen their economic, trade, energy, and military cooperation, which will help provide an impetus to their economies.
The two nations have formed a “partnership of convenience” against the West for decades but there has always been an undercurrent of mistrust. However, the war in Ukraine changed that.
Emil Avdaliani, director of Middle East studies at Geocase, a Georgian think tank told Foreign Policy, “Before 2022, bilateral relations were characterised by ambivalence: high talks but little substance. … With the war, however, Russia’s turn to Asia has become complete and Iran’s support is now seen as critical in [the] Kremlin.”
Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi with Russia’s Vladimir Putin. The two sanctioned nations have grown closer after Russia invaded Ukraine. AFP
With military support and resources from Iran, the Ukraine war could be prolonged, say experts. With Russia delivering military technology to Iran, it could endanger US allies in the Middle East, Foreign Policy reports.
In August, Iran launched its Khayyam satellite using a Russian Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, a spaceport in Kazakhstan that has been leased to Russia. According to a report in The Washington Post, US officials believe that the satellite is launched over Ukraine to gather intelligence for the Kremlin, a claim dismissed by Iran.
“It’s hard to come up with an example of another country that has provided as much support willingly to Russia as has Iran,” Anna Borshchevskaya, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy told Foreign Policy.
Beyond the Ukraine war
But their friendship goes beyond the battlefield. Russian president Vladimir Putin’s first visit outside the Soviet bloc since the war was to Tehran. In July, he attend a major summit with Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
On the economic front, both countries are busy building up extensive new trade networks aimed at circumventing Western sanctions, including supply routes that can send military equipment from Iran into Russia through river and railway links and the Caspian Sea, Foreign Policy reports.
The Syria factor cannot be overlooked. Russia and Iran have different ambitions in the country. While Russia’s military intervention was needed for Assad’s regime, Iran’s manpower and weapons were also crucial for survival. Yet Russia was not enthused about Tehran’s ambitions there. But now with its armed resources focused on Ukraine, Russia is dependent on Tehran to preserve its military gains in Syria.
That’s not all. A CNN report from November said that Iran was seeking Russia’s help to bolster its nuclear programme. Any covert assistance to Iran that could boost its efforts to produce a nuclear weapon would also mark a significant shift in Russian policy, the report said.
However, Washington is watching closely and there is concern that a rise in tensions over the war could push Russia closer to Iran. As the friendship grows, there is a lot for the West to be worried about and as long as the war is on, the ties are likely to strengthen.
With inputs from agencies
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