MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Iran is holding active talks with Russia on the purchase of at least two types of military aircraft, Iranian Vice President Sorena Sattari told the Russian Kommersant daily.
"The relevant talks are going well," Sattari said, adding that he cannot give any further details on the possible contract at this point.
The vice president also said that Tehran is mulling the purchase of the Russian Sukhoi Superjet 100 plane — a twin-engine regional passenger jet, which became available commercially in 2011.
"If Russia offers us [Iran] good financial terms, a lot of our airlines would be willing to take them [Superjet 100 aircraft]," he told Kommersant.
The sanctions imposed on the Iran by the United States in 1979 blocked Tehran from purchasing new airplanes and spare parts to repair the old ones. The lifting of anti-Iran sanctions, stipulated in the final agreement on Iran’s nuclear program reached in July, will give Tehran a chance to renew its aircraft fleet.
According to Sattari, Iran is also interested in using Russian rocket carriers to launch satellites into orbit.
"It is important that this is done as part of joint projects. That is, so that we jointly develop and create satellites and cooperate in the sphere of space rocket construction," Iran’s Vice President told the Kommersant newspaper.
Sattari stressed that Russia has no competitors in the sphere of space technology.
