Iran, Israel among rivals to showcase their arms at Vietnam defense expo

Companies from Iran, Israel, China, Russia and the United States will showcase military equipment at an arms expo in Hanoi in December, Vietnam's defense ministry said on Tuesday, a rare case of geopolitical rivals exhibiting their wares together.

Communist-run Vietnam has for years been seeking to diversify its military supplies to reduce its decade-long reliance on Russia, and has discussed potential procurement deals with multiple countries trying to leverage its flexible diplomacy of good relations with great powers.

At the defense expo to be held in the capital Hanoi on Dec. 19-22, nearly 200 companies from 27 countries have already reserved booths, the ministry said in a statement, including firms from China and Iran, which had not attended Vietnam's first international military fair in 2022.

The expo will bring together defense companies from Israel and Iran, who have launched missile attacks and airstrikes on each other in the past year. Iran will attend even though it is subject to sweeping Western sanctions.

At the past edition in 2022, Israeli defense firms Elbit Systems and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems were among the exhibitors.

Vietnam's defense ministry has not released yet a full list of participants and it is not clear what arms will be displayed. Companies at times showcase only models of their bigger weapons.


Reuters