International Desk: Iran has sent ‘Zulfiqar’ ballistic missiles to Russia as part of military assistance. So far, Iran has given about 400 ‘Zulfikar’ ballistic missiles to Russia. These ballistic missiles of the Fateh-110 tribe are capable of hitting targets at a minimum distance of 300 to a maximum of 700 kilometers. Iran’s missile development program is overseen by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the elite branch of the country’s military. The IRGC and the Russian Defense Ministry have not officially given any information to the media in this regard.
According to an Iranian source, an Iranian delegation visited Moscow at the beginning of January, and later, a delegation from Moscow visited Tehran. At that time, the officials of the two countries signed the agreement. Reuters news.
According to the report, Iran has sent four shipments of Zulfiqar missiles to Russia so far. Of these, 2 shipments were sent via the Caspian Sea and 2 by air.
An Iranian official told Reuters, “We will ship more missiles to Russia in the coming weeks.” There is no reason to keep it a secret anymore. Iran is a free-sovereign country, and we can export arms to any other country.’
Note that both Iran and Russia are under the pressure of US sanctions. The US President’s National Security Adviser, John Kirby, said in a briefing that he has learned that Russia and Iran are making a secret arms exchange deal, and this is very worrying.
The Pentagon, the headquarters of the US Department of Defense, did not comment on the recent missile exchange. However, a Pentagon official said that they had learned that Moscow had reached an agreement with Tehran regarding the sale of missiles, but he was not sure if Iran had actually started sending shipments.
A source in the Russian military said that Russia had previously bought some missiles from North Korea, but their ‘quality’ was not that good.
“After being used on the battlefield, it was found that only 2 out of 24 missiles were able to hit the target,” the Russian official told Reuters.
From this point of view, the quality of Zulfikar is quite good. Jeffrey Luiz, a researcher and weapons expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, an American think tank, told Reuters in this regard, “Zulfiqar is one of the best short-range missiles available in the world in terms of quality.” It has a reputation for hitting targets perfectly.’
