Iranian General: Tehran Purchases Russian Su-35 Fighters

Iran has purchased a batch of Russian Su-35 fighter jets, Ali Shadmani, deputy chief of the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters of Iran's Armed Forces, general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said.

Shadmani did not disclose the number of aircraft acquired, Entekhab reports.

"Whenever necessary, we make military purchases to strengthen our air, ground, and naval forces,” Shadmani stated, without specifying the quantity of jets purchased.

The Sukhoi Su-35 is a highly maneuverable, multirole 4++ generation fighter aircraft. It is designed to engage air, ground, and surface targets, as well as infrastructure protected by air defense systems, even at significant distances from its base of operations.

The Su-35 was developed by the Sukhoi Design Bureau (now part of United Aircraft Corporation, a subsidiary of Rostec) and is manufactured at the Gagarin Aircraft Plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur.

Iranian authorities approved the procurement of the Su-35 several years ago, following the lifting of a United Nations arms embargo in October 2020. The UN Security Council had removed restrictions on conventional arms sales to Iran, enabling the purchase. The deal was finalized in March 2023, as confirmed by Iran's mission to the UN, although the exact number of jets Tehran plans to acquire was not disclosed at the time.

It is worthy of note that the UN arms embargo on Iran expired on October 18, 2020. The restrictions, imposed as part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to address Iran's nuclear program, had prohibited the direct or indirect supply, sale, or transfer to Iran of combat tanks, armored vehicles, artillery systems, fighter aircraft, attack helicopters, warships, missiles, or missile systems without specific UN Security Council approval. Effectively, the embargo constituted a comprehensive ban on arms sales to Iran.

The embargo was lifted five years after the 2015 JCPOA agreement, despite objections from the United States. Following the expiration of the restrictions, Iran was free to pursue arms deals, including the Su-35 purchase, without requiring further UN authorization.

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An arms embargo is a restriction or a set of sanctions that applies either solely to weaponry or also to "dual-use technology." An arms embargo may serve one or more purposes:

• to signal disapproval of the behavior of a certain actor
• to maintain neutrality in an ongoing conflict
• as a peace mechanism that is part of a peace process to resolve an armed conflict
• to limit the ability of an actor to inflict violence on others
• to weaken a country's military capabilities before a foreign intervention