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Unconfirmed reports in Irans press suggest the country may take delivery of the first batch of Su-35 Flanker-E fighter jets it ordered from Russia in the coming weeks.

In an article that has since been removed, Irans official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported that the jets, also known as Super Flankers, will soon arrive in Iran. In light of the articles deletion and past rumors that the aircraft began arriving in April, and statements, such as one affirming the jets would begin arriving in March, ultimately proving premature or outright false, one should take this news with a grain of salt.

Still, the arrival of the Super Flankers in the not-too-distant future will undoubtedly mark a milestone for Irans long-neglected air force, officially known as the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF). The IRIAF hasnt imported any new fighter jets in 33 years. But one has to go back 47 years to find a fighter procurement this significant for Tehran.

In 1976, Iran began receiving the first of 80 F-14A Tomcats it ordered from the United States in a historic deal. Tehran ultimately received 79 of them before the 1979 Islamic Revolution ended close ties between Washington and Tehran.

Despite a U.S. arms embargo and chronically unreliable TF30 engines, F-14As inherited by the IRIAF, and often flown by pilots previously imprisoned and tortured by the new Islamist regime, fought throughout Irans lengthy eight-year war with Saddam Husseins Iraq, downing many enemy jets.

Outfitted with the powerful AWG-9 radar and armed with the long-range AIM-54 Phoenix air-to-air missile, which could hit targets up to 100 miles away, the Tomcat was a formidable opponent and a true air superiority fighter.

While the fourth-generation fighter, truly cutting-edge for its day, served Iran well, time has ultimately taken its toll. Irans rivals have acquired more advanced and modern jets in the intervening decades.

Iran bought a fleet of MiG-29A Fulcrum fighters from the Soviet Union in 1990. However, its F-14s out-flew the much newer Fulcrums, which was one reason the IRIAF did not buy large numbers of those Soviet jets.

The following year, Iraqi Air Force jets, including French-built Mirage F1s, flew to Iran to evade destruction by the juggernaut of the U.S.-led multinational coalition in the Persian Gulf War. Tehran confiscated them, putting most into service with the IRIAF. Iraqi Su-25 Frogfoot attack planes served in Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) air arm and were later returned to Iraq in 2014 to help Baghdad combat the Islamic State group.

Iran previously contemplated buying the Su-30 Flanker from Russia. There have also been intermittent rumors since at least 2016 that Tehran wanted to co-produce that fighter aircraft.

Following Russias fateful February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Moscow and Tehran expanded their defense relationship to an unprecedented level. The latter supplied the former with hundreds of the single-use drones infamously used against Ukrainian cities. In return, Russia will provide Iran with at least two dozen Su-35s, most likely the ones initially built for export to Egypt in recent years in a deal Cairo is widely believed to have canceled.

Its unclear if Tehran will seek to import additional fighters or some co-production arrangement to assemble more in Iran. The Su-30 co-production rumor appeared again in early May, this time in Turkish media.

Su-35s in Russian service have proven lethal adversaries for their Ukrainian opponents. A well-known Ukrainian MiG-29 pilot recently told BBC that their biggest enemy is Russian Su-35 fighter jets.

While those super-maneuverable Russian jets are far more advanced than fighters in Ukraines current air force, which relies on early models of the Fulcrum and Flanker built in the 1980s, they are still limited in many ways. For example, the Su-35 is the only 4.5-generation aircraft that lacks an electronically scanned array radar (AESA) radar. That, along with many other potentially severe shortcomings, most likely means that the Su-35 will not enable Tehran to establish air superiority over the Persian Gulf, especially if it receives only 24. They will, on the other hand, bolster the IRIAFs aged fighter fleet and enhance Irans national air defense.

Whether they arrive in the coming weeks, months, or even in the next couple of years, the Su-35s will most likely become the most advanced fighter aircraft Iran has imported in the past half a century, something that, in and of itself, certainly is not insignificant.

I am a journalist/columnist who writes about Middle East military and political affairs.

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Tomcats To Super Flankers: Iran Might Soon Receive Its Most Advanced Fighter In Almost 50 Years - Forbes