Iran has reached a deal to buy advanced Su-35 fighter planes from Russia, Iranian state media said on Saturday, as defense cooperation between the two countries deepens.

In a statement to the United Nations, Tehran said it began approaching “countries to buy fighter jets” to replenish its fleet in the wake of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

“Russia announced it was ready to sell them” after the expiry in October 2020 of restrictions on Iran purchasing conventional weapons under UN Resolution 2231, said the statement carried late Friday by the official IRNA news agency.

“The Sukhoi-35 fighter planes are technically acceptable to Iran and Iran has finalized a contract for their purchase,” the broadcaster IRIB quoted Iran’s mission to the United Nations as saying in New York.

The report did not carry any Russian confirmation of the deal. The mission said Iran had also inquired about buying military aircraft from several other countries, IRIB reported.

Tehran has forged strong ties with Moscow in various sectors including the military in the past year.

Source: Reuters and France 24