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Tehran-Moscow talks on S-300 successful: Iran official

A Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missile system (file photo)

A senior Iranian official has described as "successful" negotiations on the delivery of Russia’s S-300 surface-to-air missile system to Iran.

“Negotiations on the delivery of the S-300 [missile system] to Iran has been successful”, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Monday during a press conference after a meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov in the Russian capital, Moscow.

Amir-Abdollahian also stressed that all issues surrounding the delivery of the system to Iran are progressing well.

He further noted that the delivery of S-300 to Iran will happen at the soonest opportunity possible.

On April 13, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a presidential decree paving the way for the long-overdue delivery of the missile system to Iran.

Russian President Vladimir Putin

The decision to deliver the missile system came after Iran and the P5+1 group of countries - the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany - reached a mutual understanding on Tehran’s nuclear program in the Swiss city of Lausanne on April 2.

Moscow had banned the delivery of the S-300 system to Tehran in 2010 under the pretext that the agreement it signed with Iran in 2007 was covered by the fourth round of the Security Council sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. The resolution bars hi-tech weapons sales to the Islamic Republic.

The Russian president defended Moscow’s decision on S-300 supply to Iran, saying the system is meant for deterrence amid ongoing developments in war-torn Yemen.

The UN says since March, nearly 2,000 people have been killed and 7,330 others injured due to the conflict in Yemen. However, according to Yemen's Freedom House Foundation, the Saudi airstrikes have claimed the lives of about 4,000 Yemeni people.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized Russia over its decision to lift the ban on the delivery of S-300 missile system to Iran, saying Tel Aviv sees the plan with “utmost gravity.”

IA/MHB/AS


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