15 Feb 2021; MEMO: Ali Asghar Haji, senior assistant to the Iranian foreign minister, said yesterday that Tehran is counting on the possibility of buying weapons from Russia to protect the region's security.
Regarding the arms embargo that was imposed on Tehran by the UN, Haji pointed out that "at a time when Iran did not have the right to purchase weapons, other countries in the region bought arms for billions of dollars," noting that these states have "turned the region into an armoury".
The Iranian official stated during an interview with the Russian news agency Sputnik: "We are in military cooperation with Russia, and when the arms ban imposed on the Republic was lifted, Russia was among the countries from which we can buy weapons, and we can cooperate with [Moscow] to protect our country and the security of the region."
Iran announced on 18 October 2020 that the arms embargo imposed on it had been lifted, allowing the Islamic Republic to buy weapons from anywhere.
