Part of a military parade in Tehran (Getty)

Iran is engrossed in a frantic race to buy weapons worth $21 billion even before international sanctions are lifted on the 15th of January according to intelligence sources in Israel and the United States.

These sources told three military correspondents in Tel Aviv yesterday that despite the fact that sanctions against Iran have not been lifted yet, the arms race to renew the face of the Iranian army is at its peak.

The same sources indicated that the Iranian regime wants to modernise the old Iranian army which needs new weapons because of the sanctions and said that Russia would be the first in the queue to sell Tehran weapons including warplanes of the Sukhoi Su-30MKI model, the renewal of the production line of T-72 tanks whose production in Iran was undertaken by Russia, the advanced T-90 and advanced Yakhont anti-ship missiles. France is also in the queue and is currently negotiating the sale of Dassault Rafale warplanes to Iran.

Meanwhile, Arab states continued to warn against Iranian influence in the region. The President of the Arab Parliament Ahmed Al-Jarwan warned that the dangers that threaten the Arab world and affect its existence necessitates unity and working together as one hand to face these threats and dangers. He also condemned Iran’s persistence in interfering in the internal affairs of the Arab world.

In Nouakchott, a group of representatives in the Mauritanian parliament called on all Islamic countries including Mauritania to stand with Saudi Arabia and support it in the face of Iranian hostility. The Vice President of the Mauritanian parliament Muhammad Ghulam Ould Haj Sheikh called for the severing of ties with Iran because “Iran’s revolution has been active in spreading Shiism at any cost”.