US objects Russia’s sale of S-300 to Iran
The United States has announced that it would object to Russia’s decision to sell the S-300 missile defense system to the Islamic Republic of Iran.
“We certainly object to it,” US State Department spokesman John Kirby said.
The remark was made one day after Iran’s Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan confirmed that Tehran would receive upgraded batteries of the S-300 missile defense system from Russia soon.
“All changes [that have been made] by the Russians over these years will be implemented on the S-300 system that is going to be delivered to Iran and we will receive the system soon,” Dehqan said.
This is while a State Department official told Fox News the sale is not technically banned under United Nations sanctions or the recent nuclear agreement.
The unnamed official added that but Washington does not want the sale to proceed.
“We have long expressed our concerns over reports of the possible sale of this missile system to the Iranians,” said Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis.
Tehran says a delegation of Iranian officials will travel to Moscow next week to sign a contract on the missile defense system.
In April, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a presidential decree paving the way for the long-overdue delivery of the missile defense system to Iran.
The decision to deliver the missile system came after Iran and the P5+1 group of countries -- the US, France, Britain, China and Russia 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 UN Security Council sanctions against the country over its nuclear program. The resolution bars hi-tech weapons sales to the Islamic Republic.
Vladimir Kozhin, Putin’s aide on military and technical cooperation, said last month the S-300 air defense system is to be modernized before being delivered to Iran.
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