Moscow, April 16 (Inditop) There are no obstacles to the delivery of Russian S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to Tehran, Iran’s deputy foreign minister has said.
“There are no problems with this (S-300) contract,” Mehdi Safari said Wednesday at the end of his visit to Moscow.
He offered no specifics about the contract’s implementation, but dismissed concerns raised by a number of countries over S-300 deliveries to Iran.
“After all, these are purely defensive weapons, and any country has the right to buy them. I believe this could only worry those states that have plans to attack others,” he said.
A Russian arms export official said last month Iran had not yet received any S-300 air defence systems.
Iranian media, citing senior security officials, reported that Russia has started delivering elements of the advanced version of the S-300 missile to Tehran under a 2007 contract.
The latest version of the S-300 missile has a range of up to 195 km and can intercept aircraft and ballistic missiles.
It is considered one of the world’s most effective all-altitude regional air defence systems, comparable in performance to the US MIM-104 Patriot system.
Iran recently took delivery of 29 Russian-made Tor-M1 air defence missile systems under a $700-million contract signed in late 2005.
