Russia says it will continue military and technical cooperation with Iran against the background of the expiry of a longstanding United Nations embargo on arms sales to and from the Islamic Republic.
“Russia is developing multi-aspect cooperation with Iran and cooperation in the military-technical sphere will proceed depending on needs of the parties and mutual readiness to such cooperation in a calm fashion,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Sunday, TASS reported.
Russia, Ryabkov added, is not afraid of US sanctions since the Kremlin is accustomed to this behavior.

In line with the multilateral 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the UN Security Council’s embargo on trade in conventional weapons with the Islamic Republic ended on Sunday.

The nuclear accord had been endorsed by the Security Council in the form of Resolution 2231.

n a statement issued on Sunday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said, “As of today, the Islamic Republic may procure any necessary arms and equipment from any source without any legal restrictions, and solely based on its defensive needs, and may also export defensive armaments based on its own policies.”

The administration of US President Donald Trump suffered embarrassment on August 14 as it failed to renew the arms embargo on Iran through a resolution at the Security Council.

During the 15-member Council vote on that day, Washington received support only from the Dominican Republic for its anti-Iran resolution, leaving it far short of the minimum nine ‘yes’ votes required for adoption.

Trump, a hawkish critic of the JCPOA, unilaterally withdrew Washington from the agreement in May 2018, and unleashed the “toughest ever” sanctions against the Islamic Republic to strangle its economy in defiance of global criticism.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on October 15 that Moscow will consider military-technical cooperation with Iran in line with mutual interests after the expiration of the embargo.

We are convinced that all possibilities stemming from the expiration of the provisions of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231 that are linked with military technical cooperation with Iran will be duly taken into account and used on the basis of mutual benefit and in the interests of the peoples of our two states,” the Russian official said.

Iran’s Ambassador to Moscow Kazem Jalali said on Saturday that the Islamic Republic will use “with prudence” the opportunity that will be provided by the termination of the embargo.

“Iran will definitely cooperate with interested countries in the technical-military field and in the procurement of equipment it needs,” the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) quoted Jalali as speaking in an interview with the Russian website of Interfax.

 

source: Press TV