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Tehran
Iran's official IRNA news agency has said that the country has finalised deal to buy Sukhoi-35 fighter jets from Russia. This may help Iran modernise its ageing fleet of fighter jet which it has struggled to get spare parts for due to international sanctions.
In a statement to the United Nations, Tehran said it began approaching "countries to buy fighter jets" to replenish its fleet in the wake of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.
"Russia announced it was ready to sell them" after the expiry in October 2020 of restrictions on Iran purchasing conventional weapons under UN Resolution 2231, said the statement carried late Friday by the official IRNA news agency.
"The Sukhoi 35 fighter jets were technically acceptable for Iran," it added.
There have been signs of deepening military ties between Iran and Russia in the past year. Ukraine accuses Iran of providing Russia with Shahed-136 "kamikaze" drones which have been used to carry out attacks against Ukrainian targets.
The United States has expressed alarm over the growing military cooperation between Iran and Russia, with Pentagon spokesman John Kirby warning in December that Russia looked likely to sell Iran its fighter jets.
Kirby maintained that Iranian pilots had reportedly been learning to fly the Sukhoi warplanes in Russia, and that Tehran may receive the aircraft within the next year, which would "significantly strengthen Iran's air force relative to its regional neighbours".
Iran currently has mostly Russian MiG and Sukhoi fighter jets that date back to the Soviet era, as well as some Chinese aircraft, including the F-7.
Some American F-4 and F-5 fighter jets dating back to before the 1979 Islamic Revolution are also part of its fleet.
The United States began reimposing sanctions on Iran in 2019, a year after its unilateral withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal under then-president Donald Trump.
(With inputs from agencies)
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