Entering into negotiations, Iran hoped to gain access to global markets, and the arms market in particular. Russia, in turn, was aware of the fact that Tehran possessed outdated military equipment and therefore was interested in the enhancement of military and trade ties with the Islamic Republic.
Today, the defense cooperation between the two countries is growing, and this is not what other participants of the negotiations had been expecting, the journalist believes.
According to the newspaper, Russia can trade Iran its old weapons and use the profit to modernize its military. Early in November, Alexander Fomin, director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, said that Moscow and Tehran are planning to revive several contracts on deliveries of Russian-made weaponry to Iran.
"We have several contracts that have been signed long ago, which both sides want to revive and implement," Fomin told RIA Novosti.
At the same time, Tehran profits from the cooperation of both countries even more. According to the newspaper, Russia is the only country in the world that can be seen as "an indispensable power," which is why cooperation with Moscow can help Iran to quickly overcome the consequences of the previous sanction regime and strengthen its positions on the global arena.
"A very close link between Russia and Iran was established and this close link will bring peace and stability to the region, to our countries and will lead to security in general," Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said in October. "We have significant progress in all spheres of bilateral relations — in political and economic spheres as well as in regional and international issues," he added.
In July 2015, Iran and the P5+1 group of nations — the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom plus Germany — reached an agreement stipulating that Tehran keeps a peaceful nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
In October, Iranian Ambassador to Russia Mehdi Sanaei told Sputnik in an interview that Tehran was looking for ways to broaden the scope of defense cooperation with Moscow. Earlier in November, the Russian upper house of parliament's defense committee chair Viktor Ozerov said that Russia and Iran were in talks on the supply of $10 billion worth of weapons and hardware, including T-90 tanks, artillery systems, aircraft and helicopters.
