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From drones to production What else lies behind Minsk, Tehran getting closer?

08 August 2023 16:49

Recently, the defense ministries of Belarus and Iran have signed a memorandum on military collaboration and defined a plan of cooperation for the current year. As it became known from open sources, the meeting was initiated by the Ministry of Defense of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the agreement was signed by the Heads of the military departments of the two countries, Viktor Khrenin and Mohammad Reza Ashtiani. During the meeting, the sides discussed the current state and prospects of development of cooperation in the military sphere.

It should be noted that on March 13 of this year, the President of Belarus Alexandr Lukashenko visited Tehran and held a number of meetings with Iranian officials. At that time, eight agreements on cooperation were signed in the areas of defence, trade, transport, agriculture and culture.

The observed intensification of relations between the two countries in different spheres must be considered from several aspects. First of all, it is necessary to analyse the objectives of the signed memorandum of military cooperation between the two countries. We have taken note of the fact, that the details of the agreement have not been disclosed in open sources by the authorities of any of the countries. It was only reported, that the sides have exchanged views on topical issues of the international agenda during the meeting, as well as discussed the importance of sharing defense experience, readiness to conduct military exercises, as well as the importance of scientific and educational cooperation between the armed forces. In addition, the parties also discussed the full-scale war that Russia is waging in Ukraine during the meeting.

So why is Iran interested in a military cooperation with Belarus? It is enough to look at the equipment of the Iranian Air Force and Air Defense Forces, as well as to recall the interest of Tehran in buying Russian Su-35 fighters, and then we can conclude that Iran desperately needs strengthening and modernization of these branches of their troops. The presence of aviation and other military-use plants on the territory of Belarus makes this cooperation more than logical. Iran expects to significantly improve the technical equipment of its air force and air defense at the expense of the military-industrial potential of Belarus in exchange for the transfer of technologies for the production of kamikaze drones to Minsk.

Iran and Belarus have worked closely in the military-technical sphere. Tehran has purchased several air defense systems of Belarusian production. Belarusian specialists also participated in the modernization of Iranian anti-aircraft missile systems, manufactured according to the Soviet systems. For this reason, it is impossible to rule out the possibility of exchange of experience of specialists of the two states in the field of aviation and air defense (anti-ballistic missile systems, radio detection systems, etc.) and in the sphere of developing electronic control systems and automatic control systems (ACS). It is this experience that Iran requires so much at the moment.

In this context, the question arises - what will Belarus gain from all this, especially given the tension on the border with Poland? Military experts suggest that Belarus wants to gain experience in the production of strike drones, especially after such drones have shown their effectiveness in Karabakh, and have proven themselves well during the war in Ukraine. Thus, the analytical center “Institute of War Studies” (ISW), based in Washington, has published a report according to which an Iranian plant for the production of drones will be built in the Gomel region, in the south of Belarus. In addition, according to the Belarusian opposition, a working group of Iranian engineers visited the Gomel Radio Plant in May and allegedly discussed the possibility of establishing a system production of suicide drones.

The rapprochement between the two countries must also be seen from an economic context. If we take into account the data from the statistical center of Iran, inflation in the country is at 48%, and British intelligence reports that Iran’s intention to make a good profit on Moscow’s desire to acquire drones, we can understand that the agreements signed this year between Tehran and Minsk, have some economic aspects. For countries currently facing unprecedented Western sanctions and great economic difficulties, these agreements are important. The relatively large domestic market of Iran, which will always be in demand for agricultural products and food, is very interesting for Belarus. Of particular interest to Minsk are Iranian ports, through which Belarusian goods can enter the Middle East markets. It is clear that Iran can also benefit from these agreements.

Caliber.Az
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