Jan. 21, 2015 | 12:12 AM
Russia may send missile system to Iran: state media

Reuters
MOSCOW: Russia might deliver a long-overdue S-300 air defence missile system to Iran, honoring a contract that was canceled in 2010 following strong pressure from the West, Iranian and Russian media said Tuesday.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu is visiting Tehran and signed an agreement with Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan to boost cooperation, Iran’s Fars semiofficial news agency said.

Fars said the two countries would resolve problems with the delivery of the advanced missile system, while Russia’s RIA state news organization confirmed the issue was once again under discussion.

“A step was taken in the direction of cooperation on the economy and arms technology, at least for such defensive systems such as the S-300 and S-400. Probably we will deliver them,” RIA quoted Colonel General Leonid Ivashov as saying.

Ivashov is the former head of the defence minister’s department of international cooperation.

Dmitry Medvedev, then the Russian president, cancelled a contract to supply Tehran with the advanced missile system in 2010 in the wake of U.N. sanctions imposed on Iran over its disputed nuclear program.

The United States and Israel heavily lobbied Russia to block the missile sale, saying it could be used to shield Iran’s nuclear facilities from possible future airstrikes. Iran in turn has taken Russia to arbitration to finalize the sale.

Ivashov said that Russia’s ties with Iran had strengthened recently due to Western sanctions that they are both now facing and added that the two countries were looking to expand their cooperation in other areas.

The S-300 advanced missiles have a 125-mile (200 km) range and Russia has stoked tensions with the West by trying to sell the system to other Mideast countries, including Syria.

Russia’s ties with the West are at Cold War lows over the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on January 21, 2015, on page 9.
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