 "Iran agrees €500 million secret missile deal with Russia: Report")
Iran has entered into a secret 500 million euro arms agreement with Russia to procure thousands of advanced shoulder-fired missiles, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.
According to the report, the deal was signed in Moscow in December and предусматриes the delivery of 500 man-portable Verba launch units along with 2,500 9M336 missiles over a three-year period. The FT cited leaked Russian documents and several individuals familiar with the arrangement.
The deliveries are scheduled to take place in three phases between 2027 and 2029, the newspaper said.
The negotiations were reportedly conducted between Rosoboronexport and the Moscow representative office of Iran’s Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL). Tehran is said to have formally sought the missile systems in July last year, according to contractual documents reviewed by the FT.
The reported agreement comes amid heightened regional tensions. In June last year, US forces carried out strikes on three of Iran’s principal nuclear facilities as the conflict involving Israel and Iran escalated.
President Donald Trump said Iran’s key nuclear facilities were destroyed in the attack. However, according to a preliminary U.S. intelligence assessment at the time, the U.S. airstrikes did not destroy Iran’s nuclear capability and only set it back by a few months.
Iranian officials have repeatedly said Tehran had recovered from the damage incurred during the war and that its capabilities are better than ever.
Russia has a strategic partnership treaty with Iran, although it does not include a mutual defence clause. Earlier in February, a Russian naval corvette conducted manoeuvres with the Iranian navy in the Gulf of Oman this week, according to Russia’s Defence Ministry.
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