Russia starts shipping S-300 air defense systems to Iran: deputy PM

Russia has started shipping S-300 air defense missile systems to Iran, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Wednesday.

"The contract is being executed and paid for. Delivery is carried out, and this contract will be followed by others," Rogozin said in a live interview with Rossiya 24 TV channel.

He added that the contract for the S-300 system opened up new opportunities for cooperation between Moscow and Tehran in both the military and civil spheres.

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 in line with a resolution of the United Nations Security Council, which banned the supply of conventional weapons to Iran.

Iran, in response, submitted a 4-billion-dollar claim against Russia to an international arbitration court in Geneva.

In early April this year, Russian 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.

Rogozin said earlier this month that Iran would withdraw the lawsuit against Russia after the latter supplies the first division of the S-300 missile systems. Endi