TEHRAN, Iran – On Dec. 8, the commander of the Iranian army's ground forces, Brig. Gen. Ahmad Reza Pourdastan, announced that the Islamic Republic’s “ties with Russia in the field of equipment supply are established. Our first contract was for the S-300 missile system and now we have on our agenda the purchase of T-90 tanks. God willing, our experts will go on a trip to Russia to sign the related contracts with the Russians. However, no such contract has been signed yet.”

Following the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in Vienna earlier this year, Iran’s military became hopeful that its might would increase. This was mainly because the P5+1 group of countries (Russia, China, France, Britain and the United States plus Germany) had pledged under the JCPOA to lift the UN heavy arms embargo against Iran within the next five years, in return for Tehran showing goodwill and abiding by its commitments.

The first branch of Iran’s military to pursue the idea of expansion through the purchase of heavy equipment was the air force, which has already held negotiations with the Russians and the Chinese.

Indeed, the widespread attrition and deterioration of air force equipment has prompted the Iranian public to view the air force as antiquated. However, in reality, the country’s ground forces are suffering from more complex and deeper problems in terms of hardware.