Reports: Russia to sell long-range fighter jets to Teheran

[Purveyor]

Source: Jerusalem Post

Israel is looking into reports that Russia plans to sell 250 advanced long-range Sukhoi-30 fighter jets to Iran in an unprecedented billion-dollar deal.

According to reports, in addition to the fighter jets, Teheran also plans to purchase a number of aerial fuel tankers that are compatible with the Sukhoi and capable of extending its range by thousands of kilometers. Defense officials said the Sukhoi sale would grant Iran long-range offensive capabilities.

Government officials voiced concern over the reports. They said Russia could be trying to compete with the United States, which announced over the weekend a billion-dollar arms sale to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.

Despite Israeli and US opposition, Russia recently supplied Iran with advanced antiaircraft systems used to protect Teheran's nuclear installations. At the time, Moscow said it reserved the right to sell Iran weapons, such as the antiaircraft system, that were of a defensive nature.

Read more: http://www.jpost.com:80/servlet/Satellite?cid=1185379034835&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

[Vincardog]

1. This is the PNAC plan in action all war all the time.

[BridgeTheGap]

2. Yeah, I'm sure Dick is licking his chops over this one

Are we mired enough already?

[Spearman87]

3. The Cold War didn't end, it was just a "Time out" (EOM*)

DFDFDF

[acmavm]

4. Chimpy's bestest buddy Pootie isn't playing nice, is he?

[Bravo Zulu]

6. Pootie poot was trained by the KGB

dingle berry was trained as a cheerleader!

[LaPera]

5. Iran has a right to defend itself...But the trillion dollar American arms makers want it all.

They sell indirectly to every country anyway...American arms makers have always supplied weapons to both sides of every war and dispute...this is after all BushCo war for profit!

[Posteritatis]

7. ...That's a looooot of Su-30s

I thought those things were still comparatively uncommon, or at least not common enough for Russia to be selling that many in one go.

Isn't this about on the same scale as, say, the US selling that many F-15s or F/A-18s to someone, or the EU selling that many Typhoons?

Gah.

[Karenina]

10. Wonder if they are in working order...

:silly:

[Warren Stupidity]

13. Russia makes good aircraft. nt.

[youngdem]

8. The Cold War isn't over, it just moved from Eastern Europe to the Middle East

Great.

Just great.

[CGowen]

9. I guess all the F 14 the US gave them are too old now ..

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0705tomcat0705.html

[saigon68]

17. Old and worn out

[Deja Q]

11. Splendid! Let's start offshoring to Russia like the big corporations want to!!!

:crazy:

[Warren Stupidity]

12. Iran has the right to defend itself from attack.

It has US forces on two of its borders and a belligerent US president and almost equally belligerent US congress repeatedly threatening their sovereignty. Our recently announced 20B arms deal with Saudi Arabia renders moot any discussion about the perils of arming the region: we are busily arming the regions as usual. The Sukhoi-30 does not appear to be an offensive air threat.

Of course this deal may all be an invention of the AIPAC wing of the Bullshit Media System, there may be no such deal in the works.

[HopefulCanadian]

15. Offensive air threat

The Sukhoi 30 is a long range fighter designed to project beyond one's borders. It is more of an offensive threat than a defensive shield. If I were Israel and if the reported deal is true, I would be very concerned.

[Warren Stupidity]

16. Not really.

Yes it can project beyond its borders but only in a support capacity. It is not a bomber. Iran has no serious offensive capabilities.

[ohio2007]

14. Some will question your news source

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2933624&mesg_id=2934315

just saying,
some people have a fear of sources that do not have some official seal of approval or official sources that start to report stories wrong ;)