I posted this on other thread but I will post it here also:
Ironic how Pakistanis have been expecting procurement of Chinese fighters just around the corner for decades and now Iran will almost certainly manage to beat us to the punch and procure Chinese fighters before Pakistan. With Iran, they will not build up this stupid hype like Pakistan has been doing for last 10 years, Iran has the money so they will just buy whatever they want without any kind of show.
Despite being iron ally of China, I would not be surprised if Chinese got frustrated with Pakistan for taking so long and dragging feet on placing order for even a few J-10. I fully expect China to sell order of 50 to 100 J-10's that were earmarked and designated for Pakistan at half price but Pakistan took so long that now they will go to Iran instead. And it's hard to blame China for incompetence of PAF procurement program. Don't be fooled by Iran, they might have sanctions, but their economy is in excellent condition, they have tons of cash flow, and their economy is in much better shape than Pakistan. They have the money to drop an order for 100 J-10 procurement tomorrow with zero fanfare like its nothing, while China quietly sells Pakistan's J-10's to Iran for as long as Pakistan takes to decide something as obvious and basic as PAF needing to urgently acquire J-10's and that should have been done yesterday. Mark my words, Iran will beat Pakistan to the punch and buy out our own designated J-10's marked for PAF from China before us. This is the difference between Iran and Pakistan, their leadership is far more decisive and practical than ours, they don't have any stupid hype buildup for years like Pakistan with J-10, they will just buy it without any fanfare, and soon J-10 will be operational in Iran while Pakistan keeps dreaming with an indecisive and imaginary procurement program. Iran knows they don't have unlimited time to buy these fighters so they won't waste decades like Pakistan.
As the saying goes, even a bad decision is better than no decision.
Pakistan will only wake up once they realize that they took so long that Iran managed to buy the J-10's China had designated for PAF from us and put them into service.
I must say it is very ironic that China bought blueprints for J-10 from Israel and now they will sell it to Iran.