The Iranian authorities have officially confirmed that they intend to buy the Su-35 jets from Russia. In recent months there have been many leaks and rumors on this topic, which were actively rejected by many “experts” as not being worthy of discussion and not serious.
Now, however, it has become clear that the Russian authorities have indeed agreed to sell to Iran the most advanced Su-35 fighters, multi-purpose, ultra-maneuverable fighters of the 4th generation with a steerable thrust-vectoring engines.
Russia is also believed to have developed an even more advanced model, the Su-57. However, it is not yet combat-ready and they are only trying to make it operational but have failed so far. That is why, for example, it is not used in the war against Ukraine.
The statements of the Iranian authorities should also be considered within the context of the information about the transfer of the S-400 battery from Russia to Iran. Currently, this is the most advanced Russian anti-aircraft system, since the S-500 has not yet been made operational. Therefore, unfortunately, we see an obvious and new tendency in the Russian policy of strengthening the military power of Iran, our worst enemy.
Russia is doing this without any regard to Israel, as well as to the fact that Iran is enriching uranium to a military level of over 84 percent. Obviously, this is Moscow’s response to Iran, in turn, supplying it with strike drones used by the Russian army to attack civilian infrastructures of Ukraine.
Russian assistance to Iran in the most sensitive area for Israel — providing its most advanced fighter jets and most advanced anti-aircraft batteries — could obviously be a serious obstacle to the Israeli initiative to disrupt Iran’s military nuclear program.
Let us remember, however, that G-d, blessed be His name, who has helped Israel many times in the past, will continue to help it in the future.
It should be noted that not so long ago Russia sold a small batch of these planes to Egypt. Initially, Cairo had intended to buy more, but then, because of the problems it encountered, it refused to complete the bigger deal.
The most serious of the problems was that during combat tests, which the Egyptians were conducting with these planes against the French Rafale aircraft they had, the French models managed to disable the Russian ones together with their air-to-air missiles using electronic warfare... As a result, Egypt decided to cancel the deal and purchased only 6 Russian aircraft instead of 48.
Following Egypt, Algeria and India cancelled similar deals with Russia.
This case tells us that the purchase of Su-35 jets by Iran, despite complicating a possible air operation against its nuclear infrastructure, would not be critical for our Air Force. At the same time, this deal becomes another evidence of the creation and expansion of the “axis of evil,” in which Russia provides its most advanced weapons to radical Teheran fanatics.
Certainly, people in Israel would like to see the cancellation of these deals between Russia and Iran, but it is unlikely that in the current situation our government has the tools necessary to prevent them.
Let us keep a close eye on these developments and hope that G-d willing, the Russian supply of advanced weapons to Iran will not be too great.