ALBAWABA - The Financial Times says that Iran has reached a secret arms deal with Russia worth about €500 million ($589 million). It is said that the deal includes buying thousands of advanced shoulder-fired missile systems.
The report says that the deal was made in Moscow in December, based on leaked Russian documents and information from several people who know about the situation. Russia would send Iran 500 Verba portable air defense launchers and 2,500 9M336 missiles over a three-year period, according to the terms of the deal.
Reuters has not yet confirmed the report on its own.
The alleged purchase of weapons comes at a time when the region is more unstable than usual, with Washington sending more troops to the Middle East. Analysts say that the timing of the deal could mean that Tehran is trying to improve its defenses as rumors grow about possible U.S. military action.
Some security experts in the United States have said that the large number of American troops sent to the region recently could be a sign that the risks of escalation are growing. Professor Robert Pape from the University of Chicago said that the current U.S. air deployments make up a large part of the world's airpower capacity. He compared the size of these deployments to those that happened before the Gulf War in 1991 and the Iraq War in 2003.
Even though there are still diplomatic ties between Tehran and Washington, the reported missile deal shows how the balance between negotiation and deterrence is changing. If true, this deal would be one of the biggest recent arms transfers between Russia and Iran, making the already unstable geopolitical situation even more complicated.
