Russia: We Reached Agreement with Iran over S-300 Defense Systems

Local Editor

Russian deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov confirmed that "Moscow and Tehran have reached an agreement over delivery of the S-300 long range surface-to-air missile systems. It's a done deal, with some technical issues only left to be clarified."

"As things stand now, this topic is closed. We have reached full understanding on the matter together with our Iranian partners. The question has been fundamentally solved. The rest is just technical details," Bogdanov, who is also a special presidential representative for the Middle East and Africa, stated on Wednesday.

Russia will supply Iran with the S-300 system later this year. A high-ranking source in the Russian Foreign Ministry told RIA Novosti that the exact number of missile systems has been written down in an already agreed contract.

"There will be as many as mentioned in the contract," he added, responding to the question whether Russia will really supply Iran with four S-300 divisions instead of three, as the Sputnik agency previously reported, citing a source in the Iranian Ministry of Defense.

In April, Russian President Vladimir Putin repealed the ban [introduced by former President Dmitry Medvedev in 2010] prohibiting the delivery of S-300 missile air defense systems to Iran. Commenting on the decision, Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, said that Moscow's voluntary embargo on S-300 deliveries was no longer necessary due to the progress in nuclear talks reached in Lausanne.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team