Iran says to receive Russian S-300 missile "soon"

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that Iran has had "successful" negotiations with Russia on delivery of S-300 air defense system in near future, IRIB state TV reported on Tuesday.

All issues around the delivery of system to Iran are progressing well and the delivery of S-300 to Iran will happen at the soonest possible opportunity, Amir-Abdollahian said on Monday during a press conference in Russian capital of Moscow.

On April 23, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said that Russia would not deliver S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems to Iran any time soon although Russia recently lifted a ban on selling the missile.

"This is not a matter of the nearest future," Ryabkov said, adding that "I cannot forecast anything regarding the timing (of S-300 delivery), but it is clear that situation has changed after the decision made by the Russian president."

In early April, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to lift the ban on sales of S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems after Iran and six world powers, including Russia, reached a framework accord on parameters of Iran's controversial nuclear program.

Moscow and Teheran signed an 800-million-U.S. dollar contract in 2007 to supply Iran with five S-300 systems.

In September 2010, then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev canceled the contract to comply with a resolution of the UN Security Council, which banned the supply of conventional weapons to Iran. Endit