Russia to deliver S-300 missile systems to Iran ‘in nearest time’

MOSCOW – Reuters

Russian will start the delivery of S-300 air defense missile systems to Iran in “the nearest time,” RIA news agency quoted Russia’s Foreign Ministry as saying on Feb. 15. 

The Islamic Republic is also displaying interest in buying more advanced, S-400 missile systems, but no negotiations are being conducted at the moment on this matter, the agency reported.  

On Dec. 3, 2015, TASS news agency quoted an aide to President Vladimir Putin as saying that Russia had started the delivery of its S-300 air defense systems to Iran. 

“The contract is being implemented, [deliveries of S-300s] are starting,” the agency quoted Vladimir Kozhin as saying.

One month prior to Russia’s statement, Tehran’s defense minister said on Nov. 10, 2015 that Iran would receive the bulk of the S-300 air defense missile systems it ordered from Russia by the end of the year. 

“We signed a contract with Russia. It is being done. We will acquire a large portion of the systems by the end of this year,” Iranian Minister of Defense Hossein Dehghan told state television Nov. 10, 2015.

He added that Iranian troops were being trained in Russia to operate the surface-to-air missile systems.