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Russia holding back on Iran missile contract

MOSCOW: Iran’s Defence Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar arrived in Moscow on Tuesday to try and persuade Russia to supply sophisticated air defence missiles to Tehran.

The Iranian Defence chief held what was officially described as“constructive” talks with his Russian counterpart Anatoly Serdyukov, but informed sources said Moscow had deferred a decision on the supply of S-300 long-range air defence systems to Iran.

Russia and Iran reportedly signed a $800-million contract for the deliveryof 60 S-300 mobile launchers some time ago, but Moscow is yet to fulfil it.

The Russian Foreign Ministry refuted a December report by the state-ownednews agency RIA Novosti that Russia had begun deliveries of S-300 complexes.

A spokesman for the state arms export agency Rosoboronexport was quoted as confirming that the contract was still on hold. “Nothing has changed on the question of deliveries of S-300 to Iran and is unlikely to change in the wake of the Iranian Defence Minister,” said spokesman Vyacheslav Davydenko.

Russian media said Moscow was reluctant to supply the advanced weapons at atime when the new U.S. administration offered to improve relations withRussia.

The main restraining factor in the development of defence relations withIran is the possibility for Moscow to improve its relations with the United States,” the Kommersant daily wrote on Tuesday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is expected to meet new U.S.Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the next two weeks to discuss the agenda for the first meeting between the Russian and American Presidents,Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama during the G20 meeting in London in April.

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