S-300 systems will be promptly supplied to Iran if decision decided politically - Russian Defense Ministry
MOSCOW. April 13 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Defense Ministry is ready to promptly supply S-300 air defense systems to Iran, General Yury Yakubov, coordinator of the general inspectors' department of the Russian Defense Ministry, told Interfax-AVN on Monday.
"If a political decision is made to supply to Iran the S300 missiles possessed by the Russian Armed Forces, I believe that the Defense Ministry will promptly fulfill the president's order," Yakubov said, commenting on the order signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday allowing the provision of S-300 air defense missiles to Iran.
Yakubov recalled that the S-300 missile systems intended for Iran are no longer produced, but are possessed by the Russian Armed Forces.
Russia and Iran signed the contract for the supply of S-300 missile systems in 2007. The contract envisaged the supply to Iran of six divisions of S-300 missiles worth $800 million.
The U.S. and Israel spoke against the implementation of the contract. In June 2010, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution on a weapons embargo on Iran, imposing restrictions on the supplies of missiles and missile systems. In that situation, Dmitry Medvedev, who was then president of Russia, signed a decree banning the sale of those missile systems to Iran in late 2010.
