Iranians interested in Belarusian armaments :: Charter'97 :: News

A military delegation of Iran headed by defense minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar has arrived to Belarus on July 4. According to reports of Belarusian Defense Ministry press-service, Belarusian and Iranian military men are to discuss prospects of cooperation of defense ministers of the two countries and “other issues of mutual interest”. A former defense minister of Belarus Pavel Kazlouski thinks that the main objective of the Iranian delegation’s visit is to buy Belarusian armaments. Alyaksandr Lukashenka has confirmed that today. He stated that he finds that cooperation with Iran is possible in all directions including military technical field.

“I suppose that the defense minister could be interested by Belarusian armaments, as they hardly need to know about strategy and tactics of the Belarusian army. Iranians’ mentality is different, they have their own army which solves different tasks. That is why I can suppose that they are interested by some weapons systems, armaments, ammunition, probably spare parts. Iran has a lot of armaments from the former Soviet Union. They can be interested by that,” told A former defense minister of Belarus Pavel Kazlouski to the Charter’97 press-center.

As we have informed, in May Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited Minsk. One of the reasons of his visit to Belarus was military cooperation. However, as Kazlouski believes, real military relations of Belarus and Iran unlikely to become public.

Alyaksandr Lukashenka has confirmed an intention to cooperate with Iran in the military and technical sphere.

“Our relations with Iran develop effectively in all directions. We are not going to conceal them, and moreover, these relations do not contradict international legal acts,” A. Lukashenka stated during the meeting with Defense Minster of Iran Mostafa Mohammad Najjar in Minsk Thursday.

As the leader of the Belarusian state noted, “our relations in the sphere of military and technical cooperation are based on development of production in the high technology sphere”. “I would like to confirm that all those contracts signed with the Iranian side, will be executed by the Belarusian side,” Lukashenka said.

He admitted that in cooperation with Belarus and Iran “some issues lacking clarity exist”. “I think that your visit would advance us in the planned directions and contracts,” A. Lukashenka said.

The Iranian minister passed to Lukashenka, “the warmest wishes from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad”.

As said by Iranian minister, “Belarus occupies a special position in Iran’s foreign policy”. “Our cooperation develops thanks to mutual understanding at the level of the heads of the states,” Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said.

Defense minister said that “from the moment of your visit to Teheran 9 months have passed. We have managed to advance a lot over this period, and in the sphere of military and technical cooperation as well”.