Moscow does not rule out the start of negotiations on the supply of Russian weapons to Iran after the lifting of the UN Security Council’s embargo on Tehran this fall, Russian President’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and Director of the Second Asian Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry Zamir Kabulov claimed.
Iranian ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali said in an interview with that Tehran had received proposals for the supply of military equipment and defensive weapons from a number of countries, plans certain steps after lifting the restrictions.
“Yes, because the relevant resolution of the UN Security Council expires and Russia has carefully observed it”, – the diplomat said, answering the question whether the Russian Federation can begin deliveries of arms to Iran after the UN Security Council embargo against Tehran expires this fall.
Kabulov noted that “so far there have been no such negotiations (on the beginning of arms supplies – ed.), but they will become quite possible, because the international legal obstacle that exists before October will be removed”.
“After its elimination, Iran is a sovereign country, no less than Russia, and this is its right to contact us”, – the senior diplomat emphasized.
Iran and the Six International Negotiators reached a historic agreement in July 2015 to resolve the long-standing problem of the Iranian atom. The months-long negotiations culminated in the adoption of a joint comprehensive action plan (JCPOA), the implementation of which will completely remove Iran’s previously imposed economic and financial sanctions by the UN Security Council, the United States and the European Union. The agreement also provided that the arms embargo will be lifted from Iran within 5 years, arms deliveries are possible earlier, but only with the permission of the UN Security Council. The deal in its original form did not survive even three years: in May 2018, the United States announced a unilateral exit from it and the restoration of severe sanctions against Tehran.