Iran denies arms deliveries from China, Russia amid procurement reports
Iran’s top military denied arms deals with China and Russia, signaling caution over how its defense partnerships are reported amid postwar rebuilding.
TEHRAN — The General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic, Iran's leading military establishment, publicly denied having recently received weapons from China and Russia in a statement published by Fars News Agency on Tuesday.
The statement called recent remarks and reports about Iran's foreign defense cooperation "unauthorized and inaccurate," urging media outlets to refrain from publishing such information without coordination with military authorities.
"Any commentary … on the purchase of equipment and weaponry from other countries lacks credibility," the military institution said, adding that such reports should be treated as "unfounded."
The rebuke came a day after hard-line lawmaker Amir Hossein Sabeti claimed during a university Q&A session that Iran had obtained air defense systems from China only four days into the 12-day war with Israel in June. Sabeti claimed that neither China nor Russia refused any of Iran’s weapons requests.
