Iran goes shopping for advanced fighters and missiles

Iran hopes to rapidly rearm with advanced weaponry and is drawing up order lists of equipment that could only be transferred to Tehran's control in defiance of the UN's newly revived sanctions regime, a leading military expert has told The National.

The Tehran regime would benefit from discussions with Moscow to purchase Su-35 advanced air superiority fighters and state-of-the-art air defence systems, as well as technology to significantly increase the accuracy of its ballistic missiles, said Dr Jack Watling, senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute think tank.

The unprecedented attacks launched by Israel during its 12-day war on Iran in June proved the regime’s air defences and conventional military were ineffective under fire. The devastation of its defence equipment begs the question how the country's leadership will respond to pressure from hardliners to robustly rearm.

More worryingly for the Gulf countries and Israel is the battle-tested nature of some of the systems it has in its sights after almost four years of the Ukraine war. Iran has supplied thousands of drones used to attack Kyiv.

An S-400 surface-to-air missile system in Moscow. Getty

Any deal on selling weapons to Iran would breach the UN arms embargo that was reinstated after Britain, Germany and France triggered the “snapback” sanctions at the end of September over Iran continuing its nuclear programme. The 2015 UN Security Council Resolution 2231 specifically bans the sale or transfer of fighter jets and air defence missiles under the sanctions regime.

Things changed the same year when the sanctions were put in abeyance. Sanctions lifted in the 2015 JCPOA nuclear agreement were reimposed this year when talks on the nuclear programme collapsed with the outbreak of war. European parties to the nuclear deal snapped back the sanctions, including the arms embargo and restrictions to Iran’s ballistic missile programme.

Russian and Chinese diplomats have disputed the legality of the snapback, creating questions over whether the sanctions will hold global force.

‘4.5 gen’ fighter

If they do not hold, then foremost among Iran’s plans will be to buy the “4.5 generation” Sukhoi Su-35 warplanes that have similar capabilities to the Eurofighter Typhoon and French-made Rafale.

Watching to see if Iran embarks on discussions with Russia has become a priority for the intelligence community. It is thought “those talks are now being pushed with more vigour” within Iran, said Dr Watling, a British military historian.

The Su-35 has “a mature and effective” radar system which means that it can detect and track objects and manage multiple engagements.

Equipped with the R37M air-to-air missile, it will significantly threaten Israeli aircraft at distance. Russia’s air force used the missile to shoot down a Ukraine warplane from 177km.

A Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jet. AFP

Israeli drones, which caused significant damage in Operation Rising Lion in June as they roamed the skies unchallenged, “would be very, very easy to knock out for Su-35s”.

But a greater threat to the Israeli air force will be the f