Iran Defense Minister Boasts Of Increasing Arms Exports
Iran has increased arms exports four to five times in the past two years, Minister of Defense Mohammad-Reza Ashtiani was quoted as saying by media in Tehran on Wednesday.
“Certainly, in the future, these exports will increase even more, considering the innovations being made and the new armaments we are pursuing and unveiling,” Ashtiani was quoted as saying by ILNA news website.
A UN Security Council embargo on Iran’s conventional arms trade expired in October 2020, when the United States failed to garner support to extend the restrictions, amid the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran. European allies were not supportive of the administration’s Iran policies, while Russia and China were firmly siding with their ally.
Having been under various Western and UN sanctions for 45 years, the Islamic Republic has developed a domestic arms industry, which has achieved relatively low-tech successes, particularly in the realm of missiles and drones.
Ashtiani boasted that “In the realm of defense capability worldwide, we hold a special position due to reaching a stage in indigenous production where we have manufactured the necessary equipment for our armed forces internally. This has led to our defense capability and the result of which is the national security of our country, with the format of this equipment being in the stage of exports.”
Since mid-2022, Iran has provided hundreds of Shahed Kamikaze drones to Russia that have been used against civilian targets and infrastructure in Ukraine. The drones have also helped swarm Ukrainian air defenses during large-scale Russian missile attacks on cities. Iran still denies supplying the drones, although many parts and downed UAVs have been recovered.
The West is now concerned over emerging signs that Tehran might supply long-range missiles to Russia, which is running low on its own stocks after more than two years of large-scale attacks on targets in Ukraine. European Union leaders are ready to respond with new and significant measures against Iran amid reports that Tehran may transfer ballistic missiles to Russia for use against Ukraine.
"The European Council calls on third parties to immediately cease providing material support to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine," said the draft conclusions of a summit to be held next week, Reuters reported this week.
It is not clear to what extent the Biden administration is concerned about the latest reports of Iran’s missile supplies to Ukraine, as it stands to renew billions of dollars’ worth of sanctions waivers for Iran, which can partly alleviate Tehran’s lack of financial resources to boost its weapons development.
The danger Iranian weapons pose is not limited to supplying Russia, but most of its production ends up in the hands of rogue forces, such as the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Since November, using an array of Iranian missiles and drones the Houthis have wreaked havoc on international shipping in the Red Sea region, prompting the US and the UK to launch air strikes against targets in Yemen.
Multilateral arms embargos against Iran began in 2006, when the UN Security Council restricted on the export of technology related to nuclear delivery systems to Iran. In 2007, the Council added an embargo on arms exports to Iran, followed by a UN embargo on the sales of major conventional weapons.
These embargos were later wrapped into UNSC Resolution2231 that formalized the 2015 JCPOA nuclear deal with Iran. The agreement set October 2020 for the sunset clause to the conventional weapons embargo, and October 2023 for restrictions to the transfer of goods and technology that could contribute to the development of nuclear weapons delivery systems.
