Iran agrees deal with Russia for advanced SU-35 fighters

Iran has agreed a $6 billion deal with Russia for the supply of forty-eight of Russia’s ultra-manoeuvrable SU-35 ‘Super Flanker’ air superiority warplanes, according to leaked documents published in Israeli media. The deal is also said to involve additional warplanes similar in performance to US and Israeli F-16s, as well as Russia’s S-400 air defence system.

The leak, by a Ukrainian hacker group, appears to have been intended to damage Russia but instead has triggered a level of panic among senior Israeli military and political officials – though no doubt Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to use it as additional leverage to manoeuvre Trump into authorising a US attack on Iran for Israel’s interests – a variant of his thirty-odd year campaign of claiming that Iran is only weeks or months away from possessing an atomic arsenal.

If the Ukrainians thought Russia would be embarrassed by the leak, they will have been disappointed. When asked about the deal, Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said bluntly that Russia will meet Iran’s military needs, regardless of US-driven sanctions:

We will develop military-technical cooperation with Iran. After you noted the UN Security Council sanctions, we have no restrictions.

In full compliance with international law, we are engaged in supplying the equipment that the Islamic Republic of Iran needs.

In response to the leak, Netanyahu reportedly sent a message to Tehran via Russian channels swearing that Israel does not intend to attack Iran. Iran’s response was a masterclass in understatement, with Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi observing dryly that Israel is:

capable of deception.

Indeed. After violating its supposed ceasefire in Gaza every day since it was agreed and killing well over a hundred Palestinians, Israel on Sunday launched mass heavy bombing attacks across Gaza and Netanyahu has again blocked all aid from entering Gaza to reach around 1.8 million Palestinian civilians starving after Israel’s criminal, months-long blockade.

Featured image via the Canary