Iran’s defensive power needless of foreign missiles

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday that Russia’s move to annul the delivery of S-300 air defense missiles cannot force Iran to give in to the western pressures since Iranian Armed Forces can well defend the country without a need to the foreign countries’ missile systems.

“If you (westerner) think that the Iranian nation will retreat (from its stances) against the US and its allies due to the annulment of the contract on the sales of a number of (air defense) missiles to Iran, you should know that the Iranian nation will never give in to you and doesn’t need your missiles for defending itself,” Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, alluding to Moscow’s recent decision on annulling the contract on the delivery of the S-300 missile system to Tehran.

Ahmadinejad, who was addressing people in the Northeastern city of Bojnord, the provincial capital city of North Khorassan, said that Russia was forced to make the decision under the pressures of the Satan (the US), but meantime assured that Moscow’s unilateral and illegal move would not harm the Iranian nation.

Meanwhile, the Iranian president underscored that the country considers the contract as still valid, and noted, “They (Russian) should be told that all (Tehran-Moscow defensive) contracts are valid and they should put them into effect because if they refuse to implement them, the Iranian nation will make the other side pay compensation for the losses incurred (on Iran).”

On June 9, the UN Security Council (UNSC) imposed a US-engineered sanctions resolution against Iran over allegations that Tehran’s nuclear program is military in nature.

After the resolution was passed, Moscow said that it was not obliged to drop the S-300 deal with Iran, since it was not referenced in the UNSC resolution.

But after Washington’s continued pressures, Moscow later claimed that upon further study of the sanctions resolution, it was freezing the delivery.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in a decree issued in September, prohibited the sale of S-300 missile systems to Iran, citing restrictions under sanctions the UN Security Council imposed on Tehran in June over its nuclear activities.

Iran dismissed Russia’s justification that the ban on the delivery of the S-300 missile system to Iran was in line with the (US-engineered) UN Security Council Resolution 1929, and stated that this is an air defense system which is not included in Resolution 1929.

Iran stressed that since Resolution 1929 does not specifically ban the delivery of defensive missiles, Moscow has no excuse for refusing to commit to the deal.

According to the S-300 contract, Iran can take legal action in accordance with the contents of the deal in a bid to restore the right.

Iranian officials say that Tehran reserves the right to file a lawsuit against Russia after the latter backed down from the delivery of the sophisticated anti-aircraft to Iran.