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Russia raises stakes in Iran standoff

Vladimir Radyuhin

Moscow clearly hopes the sale of air defence missiles to Teheran will make it more amenable to compromise on the nuclear issue.

RUSSIA HAS raised the stakes in the row over Iran's nuclear programme by agreeing to sell Teheran advanced air defence missile systems.

Sources in the Russian defence and military-industrial establishments said Russia had signed a contract to sell about 30 Tor-M1 missile systems to Iran over the next two years. The deal is part of a broader $1 billion package also involving upgrades to the Iranian Air Force's 59 Russian-made Sukhoi and MIG fighter jets and the sale of patrol boats. This is the biggest defence acquisition Iran has made in recent years.

The mobile Tor-M1 system is said to be the world's only short-range air-defence weapon that can identify up to 48 targets and strike simultaneously at two targets (aircraft or cruise missiles) flying at heights from 20 to 6,000 metres above the ground at a range of over 10 km.

The Russian sources said talks were also under way to sell Iran long-range air-defence systems codenamed S-300PMU1, radar stations, and T-90S tanks.

The deal comes at a delicate moment in the standoff over Iran's suspected nuclear weapons programme.

Russia has resisted U.S.-led efforts to bring Teheran before the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for possible sanctions, insisting that the dispute be resolved through the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Under an uneasy compromise reached at the IAEA board of directors last week, the U.S. and the European Union agreed not to press for referring Iran to the UNSC and to give Russia more time to dissuade Iran from pursuing a full nuclear-fuel enrichment cycle, which could give it the know-how to build a nuclear bomb.

Russia clearly hopes the sale of air defence missiles to Iran will make it more amenable to compromise now that its nuclear facilities will be safely protected against possible missile attacks, advocated by politicians and defence officials in Israel and the United States. Defending its arms deal with Iran, Russia's Foreign Ministry said "all contracts we sign in the military and technical sphere are in full compliance with our international obligations, including non-proliferation obligations, and fully conform with Russian legislation."

The latest arms deal with Iran fits into Russia's long-standing line of argument that the best way to keep Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons is to help it realise its right to acquire peaceful nuclear energy technologies and to enhance its feeling of security. Russia has built a nuclear reactor in the Iranian city of Bushehr, which is due to become operational next year, and has been supplying it with advanced defence weapons despite strong protests from the U.S. and Israel.

U.S. stand

There are indications that the U.S. may be more inclined to give credit to the Russian view now that it has become deeply mired in Iraq and Afghanistan and needs Iran's cooperation to disengage from both conflicts.

The announcement of the Russian weapons sale to Iran coincided with a visit to Russia by R. Nicholas Burns, the American Under Secretary of State for political affairs, who was in Moscow to coordinate anti-terrorist efforts between the two countries. He was quick to register American objections to the deal, but his protests were rather low-key.

"For 25 years, Iran has supported terrorists in the Middle East, and that is why we have very bad relations with them," Mr. Burns said in an interview on the Echo of Moscow radio station. "You can understand why we do not support the sales of weapons."

It seems Washington has tacitly agreed to wait and see whether Moscow's methods of persuasion work with Iran. Last month Iran publicly declined a Russian offer to move the final stage of uranium enrichment to Russian territory. The offer of new weapons may help make it change its view.

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