Reports: Iran to buy jets from Russia

The reported Russian sale of Su-30 aircraft and aerial refueling tankers to the Islamic Republic of Iran is a very serious development. The Su-30 is an extremely capable aircraft, a potent adversary for aircraft like the F-15, F-16, Mirage 2000 and the F-18. It will be some time before the Iranians are trained up on them–perhaps a long, long time, if ever. But this is a true transformation of Iranian air power. Their current inventory consists of 1970s-era fighters (it is doubtful that any of their F-14s are in shape for sustained combat operations) such as the F-5 and F-4. The Su-30 is truly state of the art. With Iranian pilots at the controls, it is doubtful that these aircraft would be a match for US and Israeli combat pilots, but they could certainly present problems–a real threat–to just about every other country in the Middle East. And, in fact, a US pilot in an F-18 or F-15 would be presented with a greater challenge–by far–than anything the Iranians can present today. This comes about all thanks to our good buddy, Vladimir Putin.

Most of the world is increasingly concerned about Iranian sponsorship of Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, HAMAS and guerillas in Iraq and Afghanistan. Virtually the entire world is concerned about Iran’s nuclear program, which has all the hallmarks of a weapons program. So what does Russia do? Russia sells Iran advanced offensive weaponry, advanced air defense systems, and helps them build nuclear reactors.

The fact that the Iranians are buying 250 Su-30s is telling. The Iranian Air Force will go from having basically no advanced aircraft to having more than any other nation in the region, save Israel and our "friends" in the Gulf, Saudi Arabia. 250 is a big air force. By comparison, the Royal Air Force does not have 250 aircraft equal to the Su-30.

The other worrisome aspect to this is that the report says Iran will be getting aerial tankers with the Su-30s. That can mean only one thing: Power projection. They don’t need a tanker to fly combat air patrol over Qom. They need tankers to be able to carry out far-flung operations–offensive operations.

This development demonstrates two things:

1. Getting Russia to help with UN sanctions is a pipe dream. The Russians don’t give those birds away. Iran’s paying for them.

They sell Iran nuclear technology. They sell Iran weapons. They drill for oil in Iran. They are capitalists now and if they can make money off of selling weapons to our enemies, they are doubly happy to do so. In the absence of true international sanctions which, thanks to our Russian and Chinese friends, will be impossible, a divestment program offers the greatest leverage against the Iranian regime.

2. Narrow divestment which only targets Iran’s energy sector completely misses these deals. The Russians are capitalists with stock exchanges now. Sukhoi, or some of its subcontractors for avionics and other components, almost surely trades on an exchange. But under the Iran-energy sector only model, they can sell Iran 250 advanced fighter bombers and not be targeted.