1st Consignment of S-300 to Be Delivered to Iran Thursday: Russian Media
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran will take delivery of the first batch of S-300 air defense missile systems on Thursday, a report by Russian media said Wednesday.
According to the report, the first consignment of S-300 surface-to-air missile defense systems will be delivered to Iran on February 18.
“(Iran’s Defense Minster Brigadier General) Hossein Dehghan will participate in the ceremony of delivering the S-300 in Astrakhan on Thursday,” the source told Sputnik on Wednesday.
The Iranian minister, who is currently in Russia, left for Moscow on Monday at the official invitation of Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu to hold talks with senior Russian political and defense officials.
Earlier this week, a Russian foreign ministry official had said Iran would receive S-300 air defense missile systems soon.
“Deliveries will be made in the nearest time,” Zamir Kabulov, who is also Putin's special envoy for Afghanistan, said on Monday.
Under the previous contract signed in 2007, Russia was required to provide Iran with at least five S-300 defense system batteries.
But the contract, worth more than $800 million, was revoked after then-President Dmitry Medvedev banned the supply of those systems to Tehran in 2010.
Later, Iran lodged a $4 billion lawsuit at an international court in Geneva against Russia’s arms export agency.
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin decided in April to lift the ban on the S-300 missile system delivery to Iran.