Moscow should deliver S-300 defense system to Iran: Russian official

Chairman of the Russian Defense Ministry’s Public Council Igor Korotchenko has called on Moscow to fulfill its contractual obligations to Tehran and deliver the S-300 air defense systems to Iran.

In a Thursday interview with Russia’s state-run RIA Novosti news agency, Korotchenko urged Russia to sell the S-300 defense system to Iran, arguing that the move does not run counter to any UN mandates.

The Russian defense official pointed to Moscow’s dispute with the NATO member states over the military alliance’s 2010 plan to establish a missile system in eastern Europe, the Syrian crisis and Uzbekistan’s withdrawal from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) of ex-Soviet nations on June 28 and underscored the necessity of Moscow’s support for friend nations against the backdrop of the ensuing geopolitical developments.

CSTO, headquartered in Moscow, consists of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The organization was created in 2002 and has been developing rapid reaction forces along with constructing drones.

Korotchenko went on to say that Iran and Russia share a lot of common positions on international developments and argued that the delivery of the S-300 defense systems to Iran will be a “logical step” for maintaining Moscow’s geopolitical interests in the region.

Earlier in July, Iran’s Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said Tehran’s 2011 complaint against Russia at the International Court of Justice over Moscow’s refusal to ship the S-300 air defense systems to the Islamic Republic is under examination at the relevant international legal bodies.

Under a contract signed in 2007, Russia was required to provide Iran with at least five S-300 air-defense systems.

However, Moscow’s continuous delays in delivering the defense system drew criticism from the Islamic Republic on several occasions.

Russia has been refusing to deliver the system to Iran under the pretext that the selling of the system is banned by the fourth round of UN Security Council resolutions against Iran.

Korotchenko lashed out at the West for leveling allegations against Iran’s nuclear energy program as a pretext to put Tehran under pressure and argued that there has been no evidence of military diversion in the Islamic Republic’s nuclear energy program.

The United States, Israel, and some of their allies accuse Tehran of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear energy program.

Iran has strongly rejected the US-led allegations, arguing that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it is entitled to develop and acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.