According to local media on Saturday, Iran’s air force has acquired a batch of cutting-edge Russian combat trainer jets to “improve the training and combat capability of the air force.”
“A number of Yak-130 training aircraft entered the country and joined the Shahid Babaei Air Base in Isfahan” in central Iran, according to Tasnim news agency.
The agency, quoting the army’s public relations department, said the arrival of the Yakovlev Yak-130 came as part of the Islamic republic’s “arms contracts with the Russian Federation”.
Despite being subject to trade sanctions from the outside world, Russia and Iran have developed close connections over the past year, especially in the area of military cooperation.
Iran declared in March that it had signed an agreement with Russia to purchase Sukhoi Su-35 fighter aircraft.
Tehran has been accused by Ukraine and many of its Western allies of providing Moscow with weapons for use in its conflict with Kyiv.
The accusations have been constantly refuted by Iran.
Iran and Russia are “expanding their unprecedented defense partnership,” according to a May statement from the United States.
At the time, John Kirby, a spokesman for the US National Security Council, claimed that Iran had shipped more than 400 drones to Russia since August of the previous year.
Tehran, he continued, was looking to purchase attack helicopters, radars, and Yak-130 planes from Russia.
Iran presently possesses largely Soviet-era MiG and Sukhoi fighter jets from Russia as well as some F-7 aircraft from China.
Its fleet also includes American F-4 and F-5 fighter jets manufactured before the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
