Russia sells Iran thousands of shoulder-fired rockets in secret €500m deal

 Iran struck a secret €500m (£437m) deal with Russia to obtain thousands of its advanced shoulder-fired missiles.

Russia will send 500 of its man-portable “Verba” launch units and 2,500 “9M336” missiles over the course of three years as part of the agreement.

The purchase marks Iran’s most ambitious move yet to restore air defence systems that were heavily damaged by last year’s conflict with Israel.

In Russian service since 2014, the Verba, a fourth-generation shoulder-fired infrared-guided air defence missile system, is operated by small mobile teams and designed to destroy low-flying aircraft, helicopters, cruise missiles and UAVs head on.

Experts have said the weapons could make it risky for the United States to repeat the tactics it used in its capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro using helicopters and low-flying aircraft.

Signed in December

The air defence agreement was signed in Moscow in December, according to the Financial Times, which cited leaked Russian documents and several people close to the deal.

Tehran reportedly first requested the systems last July, just days after the US air force and navy intervened in Iran’s 12-day war with Israel to attack three nuclear facilities.

Rosoboronexport priced the 9M336 missiles at some €170,000 (£149,000) per unit and the launching mechanisms at €40,000, according to the FT.

Iran will also receive 500 “Mowgli-2” night vision sights to detect targets in nighttime conditions.

Deliveries will arrive in tranches between 2027 and 2029, though one source familiar with the deal said that a small number of systems may have been dispatched to Iran early.

Kazem Jalali, Iran’s ambassador to Moscow, seemed to acknowledge this week that recent flights from Moscow were carrying military kit, telling state television: “It’s been some years that we have signed strong military and defence agreements with Russia. I can only say that these aircraft demonstrate that those agreements are being implemented.”

The deal surfaced as Donald Trump massed a huge arsenal of military hardware within striking distance of Iran in what analysts have called the biggest US military build-up in the Middle East since the 2003 Iraq war.

The US president said on Friday that he was considering a “limited” strike on Iran in an effort to pressure the regime into inking a nuclear deal.

A day earlier, he said the world would find out “over the next, probably, 10 days” whether the US would take military action.

Iran’s air defence network was left heavily depleted after a series of clashes with Israel aimed at “peeling the layers of protection” before strikes on nuclear infrastructure and military officials in June, according to Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister.

The attacks destroyed almost all of Iran’s Russian-supplied defensive S-300 missile systems, the country’s most advanced air defence capability.

Despite the countries’ deepening ties and increasing military cooperation, Russia declined to intervene during the 12-day war, offering no direct aid.

A former senior US official told the FT that the Kremlin would likely view this new deal as a means of mending ties, saying: “They want Iran to remain their partner. And so even if they can’t react in the middle of a crisis, they’re going to look after the crisis to try to patch up the relationship.”

Iran also reportedly acquired up to six Russian Mi-28 attack helicopters in January. Tehran has also been seeking to purchase two squadrons of the country’s Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets.