Russia will send Iran another shipment of the S-300 air defense missile system as soon as Tehran is ready to pay, Russian media reported Monday.
“We delivered the first batch. … On our side, [the S-300 system parts] are, in fact, ready for shipment,” Alexander Fomin, director of Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, told Izvestia. “I hope that we will carry out the receipt and delivery of [the S-300 parts] with our partners soon. As soon as [Iran’s] financial obligations are fulfilled, the delivery will take place.”
The coming shipment is linked to a 2007 deal between Moscow and Tehran for five systems worth $800 million, which Russia halted in 2010 due to Western pressure. Russian president Vladimir Putin revived the agreement last year after Iran signed a nuclear deal with world powers, and delivered the first shipment of S-300 parts to Iran this spring.
Obama downplayed the sale last year, telling reporters that he was “surprised” at how long Putin’s self-imposed ban had held, since Moscow was “not prohibited by sanctions from selling these defensive weapons.” The State Department admitted this year that the S-300 sale “could” lead to U.S.-levied sanctions, and promised to “monitor” the agreement “closely.” Still, the Obama administration has not sanctioned the sale, despite having the legal power to do so and despite criticism from lawmakers.
“The Iran-Iraq Arms Nonproliferation Act and the Iran Sanctions Act provide authority for you to sanction individuals or countries that you determine are aiding Iran’s efforts to acquire or develop ‘destabilizing numbers and types of advanced conventional weapons,'” Ohio congressman Steve Chabot wrote in a May letter to the White House. “Iran’s acquisition of these systems would embolden Tehran to adopt a more threatening regional posture and to pursue offensive activities detrimental to regional stability.”
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has argued that the missile system was defensive in nature in an attempt to quell fears about the agreement’s ramifications.
“The S-300 is exclusively a defensive weapon, which can’t serve offensive purposes and will not jeopardize the security of any country, including, of course, Israel,” Lavrov told Russian media last year.
Iran flaunted parts of the missile system in April at the country’s Army Day parade, during which President Hassan Rouhani promised to defend the Islamic Republic’s allies against “threats” such as terrorism and Israel.
“The power of our armed forces is not against our southern, northern, eastern and western neighbors,” Rouhani said. “If tomorrow your capitals face danger from terrorism or Zionism, the power that will give you a positive answer is the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
