Russia
said today it would not deliver high-end air defense missiles to Iran in the
near future. Russia had signed a contract with Iran for the sale of S-300
missile system in 2007. Last month, President Putin lifted an embargo on
delivering such weapons. Now the delivery is postponed indefinitely.
“The
right time to make such deliveries has not yet come,” Yevgeny Lukyanov, deputy
head of Russia’s security council, said on Tuesday in Moscow. (Financial Times,
26 May)
Russia
appears to be balancing its growing relationship with Iran against its ties
with Israel and Arab countries.
Iranian Defense
Minister Gen. Hossein Dehghan said on a visit to Moscow last month that he
expected the S-300 contract to be reviewed within a month and deliveries to
happen before the end of this year.
Oleg
Bochkharyov, deputy head of Russia’s military-industrial commission, the
government organ overseeing the defense industry, told a media conference in
Kazan that Moscow needs to build a new S-300 system for Iran, Financial Times
reported.
“That
means a delay to be measured not in months but possibly in years,” a person
close to the defense ministry toll the Times.
File
photo: S-300 air defense system (worlddefencenews.com)
Or as the old Soviet officials would say, it not 'convenient!'
ReplyDeleteAs ever, unreliable Russians! They're not even half the superpower America is.
ReplyDeleteUnless, of course, there are more surprises to come. Why else would Abdullahian say he was "satisfied" with the negotiations on the delivery date? They must have worked something out meanwhile Russia is telling the world what it needs to hear.
ReplyDeleteMany Iranian politicians since 2007 have been "satisfied" with the negotiations on the deliveries of S-300. But Russia has never find a timeframe that would be convenient.
DeleteBut Iran harshly criticized Russia after the ban and went to court.
DeleteThe translation isnt accurate,a more accurate version is "The decision on delivery to Iran of S-300 was adopted, but the realization of this project requires a certain amount of time. As far as I understand, the time of delivery has not yet come"
DeleteThe russians have lifted the ban on providing the system and a new contract has been agreed failure at this point to deliver would look very bad for the russians
the same silly people who were talking about the Russians delivering upgraded systems to Iran right away are the only people surprised by this.
ReplyDeleteRussia is not an ally of Iran. Russia doesn't care about Iran. Russia is interested in irking the US, not in helping Iran. Russia is not going to do any more than talk.
Iran has no strong nation that is its ally and Iran's government is neither popular nor respected.
but thats why the bavar-373 project is moving along...because even Khaemeni knows russia cant be trusted and will dissapoint Iran at any moment to appease the west...in the right situations. Iran will insure itself against this dissapointment.
ReplyDelete