Apr 15, 2015, 10:50 AM
News ID: 81572127
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S-300 missiles to be delivered to Iran this year: Minister

Apr 15, 2015, 10:50 AM
News ID: 81572127
S-300 missiles to be delivered to Iran this year: Minister

Tehran, April 15, IRNA – Minister of Defense Hossein Dehqan said Iran will receive S-300 anti-air missiles in the current year.

Talking to reporters before departing here for Moscow on Wednesday, he said during his visit to Moscow he will sign a contract according to which Russia will be delivering the missiles to Iran.



He said the government, since it took seat in August 2013, has been focusing on the issue.



During meetings between Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, the Russians asked Iran to withdraw its legal complaint because of Moscow’s failure to deliver the missiles.



The minister noted that since the early days of signing the contract between Tehran and Moscow, the US and Zionist regime were against it and even asked Russia to annul it.



The Kremlin Palace on Monday announced that President Vladimir Putin in a decree has cancelled prohibition of delivering S-300 anti-air missile system to Iran.



Russian Defense Minister General Sergei Shoigu travelled to Tehran last January to sign defense agreements.



The Iranian defense minister’s remarks came after President Putin on Monday signed a presidential decree paving the way for the long-overdue delivery of the S-300 missile system to Iran.



Putin’s decree lifts a ban on 'the shipment from Russia to Iran' of the S-300 missiles, the Kremlin said in a statement.



The decision to lift the ban comes after Iran and the P5+1 group of countries - the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany - reached a mutual understanding on Tehran’s nuclear program in the Swiss city of Lausanne on April 2.



Under a contract signed in 2007, Russia was obliged to provide Iran with at least five S-300 defense systems.



However, Moscow refused to deliver the surface-to-air missiles to Tehran in 2010 under the pretext that it is covered by the fourth round of the United Nations Security Council sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, which bars hi-tech weapons sales to Tehran.



Following Moscow’s refusal to deliver the system, Iran filed a USD four-billion suit against the Russian arms firm, Rosoboronexport, with the International Court of Arbitration in Geneva.



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