UN sanctions on Iran recently expired, which allows the nation to both buy and sell many kinds of arms. The Iranian government hasn't announced any large scale arms purchases, however, it is planning on selling arms to nations that want to stand up to the USA.
Iranian Brigadier General Amir Hatami commented on the nations openness to selling arms to nations that oppose the USA,
“Many countries have already talked to us; we have held negotiations with some countries, and the grounds are totally prepared for exchanges (of weapons), both for selling (arms to other nations) and for supplying certain needs (buying arms)...Of course our sales will be much more extensive (than our purchases).”
Why it matters: The increasingly fractured geopolitical order is leading to a situation that makes unified global action impossible. There will almost certainly be a rise in armed conflict, which puts Iran in a good position to increase its arms sales. Long years of international isolation have forced Iran to cultivate its own arms industry, which it can now use to attract foreign capital. One problem that Iran would have faced a decade ago is a lack of alternative payment options, but today, it can use Bitcoin to settle arms transactions with nations that the US won't deal with. Iran is also a miner of Bitcoin, and it has approved power plants to use their output to mine Bitcoin directly.
