FM Zarif: Iran hopes to resolve S-300 delivery problem soon
YEREVAN. Jan 27 (Interfax) - Tehran hopes for the soonest resolution of a problem related to Russia's delivery of S-300 air defense missile systems of Iran, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said.
"We are very glad that the issue has been negotiated between the defense ministers of Iran and Russia. Hopefully, this problem will be resolved rapidly. We stand for settling the issue through a dialogue," he said, answering an Interfax question, at a joint press conference with Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian in Yerevan on Tuesday.
He declined to say whether Tehran was ready to drop the legal action at the Geneva arbitration court and accept S-300 analogues.
Iran and Russia signed a contract in 2007 for the delivery of six battalion sets of S-300 air defense missile systems worth of $800 million. The contract was frozen in 2010 after the UN Security Council had imposed sanctions on Tehran. Iran lodged a $4 billion lawsuit with the Geneva arbitration court. The lawsuit is being processed.
A Russian military-technological cooperation expert said, "It is possible that the agreement reached in Tehran implies the revocation of the Iranian lawsuit from the arbitration court and the offer of an alternative delivery to Tehran." "Formally, the S-300 system does not fall under the sanctions the UN Security Council imposed on Iran in 2010," he remarked.
