Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 7
Trend:
Lifting weapons sanctions against Iran will allow Russia to continue military-technical cooperation with the country by supplying new equipment, including air defense weapons and upgrading weapons and equipment already in use, Head of International Cooperation Department of Rostec Corporation Victor Kladov told RIA Novosti news agency Apr.7.
The potential need of Iran in the purchase of Russian arms, in case of lifting weapons sanctions from Tehran, is currently estimated at $11-13 billion, according to the Center for Analysis of World Arms Trade.
“Iran is our traditional partner in military-technical cooperation,” said Kladov. “Of course, in case of lifting weapons sanctions, we will continue this cooperation with deliveries of new weapons, as well as repair and modernization of the existing Soviet and Russian-made equipment.”
He said that in Soviet times, various kinds of weapons were supplied - from submarines of “Varshavyanka” type to T-72 tanks, which are now in need of repair, modernization, supply of spare parts.
Commenting on the possibility of delivery of S-300 to Iran, Kladov said that Russia has a rich range of air defense systems.”
“We can both return to the initial contract, and offer other air defense complexes and systems,” the representative of Rostec Corporation said.
Earlier, director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation Alexander Fomin said that Russia is interested in lifting of sanctions against Iran and is ready to develop cooperation with this country in different spheres.
Russia signed in 2007 a contract to provide Iran with about $800 million worth of five battalions of S-300PMU-1 consisting of 40 launchers.
Following the sanctions imposed on Iran in 2010, the Russian-Iranian contract was suspended.
Iran filed a lawsuit against Russia’s intermediary agency for exports and imports of defense-related and dual use products, technologies and services, the Rosoboronexport in the arbitration court of Geneva, Switzerland.
Russia offered to make peace, promising the new supplies of the Tor-M1E surface-to-air missile systems.
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