UN Sanctions and Iranian Arms Imports
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It is not clear as yet how the new UN sanctions on Iran will affect its arms imports. What is clear is that Iran’s conventional forces are now heavily worn, obsolescent, and often were delivered before the fall of the Shah. Moreover, Iran lost some 60% of its land weaponry during the final battles of the Iran-Iraq War, and has never been able to replace and modernize its conventional forces.
Iran has faced serious financial problems in funding its force modernization, compounded by the systematic mismanagement of its economy. Iran's economy is overdependent on oil export revenues, with such revenues representing around 80-90 percent of total export earnings and 40-50 percent of the government budget; according to one source, revenues form oil monopoly rents comprised 63% of Iranian state revenues in 2004.