Iran announced on 23 October that it signed a cooperation contract with Russia to provide Moscow with 40 turbines to help bolster its gas industry.

The CEO of Iranian Gas Engineering and Development Company, Reza Noushadi, stressed that the industrial successes of Tehran are not limited to missiles and drones.

“Currently, 85 percent of the facilities and equipment needed by the gas industry are built inside the country, and based on this capability, a contract has recently been signed to export 40 Iranian-made turbines to Russia,” he added.

Noushadi refrained from specifying the date the contract was signed, as well as the delivery date of the turbines.

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine in February, the Kremlin has halted sending supplies and gas into Europe due to western imposed sanctions on Moscow, causing energy prices to soar.

Several Russian officials insist that the sanctions have prevented the proper maintenance of Russian gas infrastructure and blocked the return of a Siemens turbine that had been undergoing repairs in Canada.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously demanded the return of the turbine in return for reactivating the Nord Stream pipeline, with western nations accusing Moscow of using gas supplies as a “weapon.”

According to several reports earlier this month, Iran will also supply Russia with its new Fateh-110 generation rocket and its newly uncovered upgrade, the Zolfaghar. The system has a range of 300-700 km and has been supplied earlier to Hezbollah, Syria, and allegedly, the Yemen-based Ansarallah movement.

Despite Iran denying all accusations of selling arms to Russia, Iran’s unique Shahed-136 UAV was spotted on countless occasions in Ukraine, refuting all of Tehran and Moscow’s rebuttals of the news about weapon sales.

In response to the spotting of the Iranian drones in Ukraine,  European Union member states have adopted new sanctions against Iran for supplying drones to Russia. Ukrainian authorities have also been expelling Iranian students from the country.