95: Chapter 95: There was no reason not to agree.

Major General Zaha and Colonel Andre led the Syrian negotiation delegation to Isfahan, Iran.

As the headquarters of the Persian Lion State National Guard, Isfahan is also the third-largest city in Iran. Historically, it served as a military gathering point and boasts many historic sites, such as Imam Square.

After the arms trade negotiations with the Sada Armed Forces in Aden ended without result, Lieutenant Colonel Haidari immediately flew to Isfahan.

Colonel Suman also appeared in Isfahan under the pretext of reporting the details of the negotiations with the arms dealer to Commander-in-Chief Qasim.

After reaching the $12 billion deal for the procurement of the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile last time, Colonel Suman had reported the general contract situation to Commander-in-Chief Qasim, but some negotiation details had not yet been reported in time.

His arrival in Isfahan this time was indeed with the intention of earning that $200,000, or even $1 million, but it was just a reasonable arrangement of other matters within his normal work.

Colonel Suman was quickly arranged a meeting with Commander-in-Chief Qasim.

Commander-in-Chief Qasim's office was even more luxurious than Major General Rahim's; the patterns on the Persian carpets were more exquisite and dense, and the color coordination was more beautiful.

"Commander-in-Chief Qasim, the negotiations between Major General Rahim and the arms dealer achieved a perfect result. We reached a $12 billion arms deal and cleared our backlogged oil inventory."

Colonel Suman began to describe the negotiation process with Li Yi in detail, occasionally boasting about his own contributions and how he had stood his ground multiple times during the negotiations to make the arms dealer make many concessions.

Whether Commander-in-Chief Qasim believed him or not didn't matter; in any case, Colonel Suman believed it himself.

Commander-in-Chief Qasim listened very seriously and suddenly asked, "The arms dealer said that if the oil paid is over 500 million barrels, the price only needs to be reduced by 30% on the basis of the international oil price. Is that correct?"

"Yes, the arms dealer has clearly stated the rules for the price reduction; the more oil we pay, the higher the effective oil price we enjoy," Colonel Suman said with certainty.

"It's a pity. The variety of weapons and equipment offered by the arms dealer is too small; otherwise, we could prepare more oil for arms procurement," Commander-in-Chief Qasim said with some regret.

"I guess the arms dealer should have other weapons and equipment for sale, but we just don't know what else they have yet," Colonel Suman speculated.

"Inquire about it. If they have any with superior combat performance, we can continue to purchase them," Commander-in-Chief Qasim said.

Aside from what they produced themselves, there were very few countries from which Iran could procure weapons and equipment. The weapons they did obtain were often outdated models that could not meet Iran's needs.

If Chaos Company could provide more advanced weapons and equipment, Commander-in-Chief Qasim wouldn't mind making a large purchase. After all, what Iran lacked was not oil, but better weaponry.

Otherwise, the cities within Iran would not have been subjected to airstrikes by Israel without being able to shoot down Israel's drone swarms.

"I will look into it," Colonel Suman promised.

"The arms dealer also agreed to use natural gas, iron ore, and other energy minerals for payment?" Commander-in-Chief Qasim asked.

"Yes, the arms dealer specifically said so."

"That’s good. We have plenty of oil and natural gas, and we haven't reached our maximum extraction capacity at all. We also have plenty of zinc ore, copper ore, and iron ore that we can't export in large quantities. They can all be used to purchase weapons and equipment."

Commander-in-Chief Qasim was quite pleased that an arms dealer was actually willing to accept energy minerals as payment.

For a country like Iran, which is rich in oil, gas, and mineral resources, this was not a problem at all. Obtaining as much energy and minerals as they wanted was as easy as simply extracting them.

Commander-in-Chief Qasim couldn't help but regret once more that Chaos Company offered far too few types of weapons.

"Indeed. Because of the sanctions from the USA, a lot of our oil cannot be exported and sold. Now we have found a sales channel," Colonel Suman echoed.

"When will the 70 million barrels of oil prepared at Abadan Port be ready?" Commander-in-Chief Qasim asked.

"It should take about two more days," Colonel Suman estimated the time.

"Contact the arms dealer in two days, finish paying for the oil as soon as possible, and then have them deliver the first batch of the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile," Commander-in-Chief Qasim ordered.

"Yes, Commander-in-Chief," Colonel Suman replied.

"Also, communicate with the arms dealer and probe to see if they have any other weapons and equipment for sale besides the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile."

"Understood."

Commander-in-Chief Qasim was about to let Colonel Suman leave when Colonel Suman quickly spoke up.

"Commander-in-Chief, Syria has sent a negotiation delegation. They want to talk to us about oil leasing cooperation. They want to lease a batch of oil from us first to procure the Tianlei series, and then return it with extracted oil once Syria has recovered its occupied oil fields."

"Oil leasing cooperation?" Commander-in-Chief Qasim mused for a moment and said, "It just so happens our oil inventory is quite high. Arrange for them to negotiate with Deputy Commander-in-Chief Mahad first, and let me know the situation once there is a result."

"Yes, Commander-in-Chief." Colonel Suman didn't expect Commander-in-Chief Qasim to agree so quickly. He thought he would need to find other National Guard officials to help persuade him.

Commander-in-Chief Qasim had actually always supported Syria's operations against the USA. Seeing that Syria had taken the initiative to request oil leasing cooperation, there was naturally no reason not to agree.

It was better than providing direct military aid to Syria; after all, most military aid provided was free of charge.

Through oil leasing cooperation, although it might seem like a bit of a loss in the short term, in the long run, it was better than free military aid.

After leaving Commander-in-Chief Qasim's office, Colonel Suman immediately contacted Lieutenant Colonel Haidari.

"Colonel Suman, is there good news?" Lieutenant Colonel Haidari asked impatiently.

"It's good news. Commander-in-Chief Qasim agreed to the oil leasing cooperation with Syria and told them to negotiate with Deputy Commander-in-Chief Mahad first," Colonel Suman said without hiding anything.

"That's great. Then please help contact Deputy Commander-in-Chief Mahad to coordinate the time and place for the negotiations. I will communicate with the Syrian negotiation delegation and tell them about this progress."

Lieutenant Colonel Haidari was very happy that he could reach the National Guard officials so easily.

"Remember what you said about paying the commission," Colonel Suman reminded him.

"I will pay you $200,000 immediately," Lieutenant Colonel Haidari said straightforwardly.