Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 20
By Khalid Kazimov – Trend:
Iran has imported $1.135 billion worth of arms over the past 10 years, data by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) suggests.
According to SIPRI, Russia and China were the top exporters of arms to Iran between 2007 and 2016.
While the value of Iran’s weapon imports from Russia stood at $804 million, China exported $316 million worth of weaponry to the Islamic Republic in the mentioned period.
Belarus in 2011 exported $15 million worth of weaponry to the Islamic Republic.
Russia accounted for a 23 percent share of global exports in 2012-2016. Seventy percent of Russia’s arms exports went to four countries: India, Vietnam, China and Algeria.
China’s share of global arms exports rose from 3.8 percent to 6.2 percent in 2007-2011 and 2012-2016. China is now firmly a top-tier supplier, like France and Germany, which accounted for 6 percent and 5.6 percent, respectively.
According to new data on arms transfers published by SIPRI, the volume of international transfers of major weapons has grown continuously since 2004 and increased by 8.4 percent in 2007-2011 and 2012-2016.
SIPRI suggests that India accounted for 13 percent of global arms imports, followed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, China and Algeria between 2012 and 2016.
This is while Saudi Arabia’s imports of arms surged by 212 percent compared with the previous five years, accounting for 8.2 percent of global arms imports.
“Over the past five years, most states in the Middle East have turned primarily to the USA and Europe in their accelerated pursuit of advanced military capabilities,” said Pieter Wezeman, a senior researcher with the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure Programme.