TEHRAN – Iran has announced it plans to purchase a batch of Sukhoi SU-30 jet fighters from Russia to boost its mainly American, aging air force fleet, its defense minister said on Saturday.

“The purchasing of the fighter jets is on the Defense Ministry’s agenda,” Brigadier General Hussein Dehqan told reporters in Tehran, according to ISNA.

Manufactured by the Sukhoi Company (JSC), the Su-30 is a two-seat highly-maneuverable fighter designed for air-superiority and strikes at ground and naval surface targets.

Currently, different variants of SU-30 fighter jets are operated by air forces in Russia, India and Vietnam.

Iran had already shown interest in a deal with Russia.

In February RIA news agency quoted a senior official at Russia's arms export agency as having said that Moscow would sign this year a contract with Iran to supply a batch of Sukhoi Su-30SM multi-role fighter jets.

Apparently, Tehran does not want to be a sheer operator of the advanced fighters and plans to engage in some sort of technological partnership with the Russian side, a point Dehqan underscored in his remarks.

“Any sort of cooperation with the selling side should be conditioned upon technological partnership and joint investment.”

The Iranian side has raised up the issue in discussions held between Tehran and Moscow, and the Russians have agreed with the issue, he further explained.

Immediately after the report, Dehqan rejected the news as “false.”