Report: Russia begins first shipment of S-300 missiles to Iran - Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff

by Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff

"I don't know if it will happen today, but [the S-300 missiles] will be loaded [for shipment to Iran]," Russian news agency quotes foreign ministry department chief as saying • S-300 defense system considered one of the most potent systems in the world.

A Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missile system on display at an undisclosed location in Russia | Photo credit: AP

Russia will begin the first shipment of its S-300 air defense missile systems to Iran in the coming days, Interfax news agency quoted a senior Russian diplomat as saying on Tuesday.

"I don't know if this will happen today, but they [the S-300 missiles] will be loaded [for shipment to Iran]," the agency quoted Zamir Kabulov, a department chief at the Foreign Ministry, as saying.

The report comes less than a month after Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended the delivery of the advanced air missile systems to Iran following Israeli intelligence suggesting the Islamic republic had supplied Hezbollah with other Russian-made weapons, according to Kuwaiti paper Al Jarida.

Iran had previously agreed not to provide the Lebanon-based Shiite terrorist group with Russian arms. Israeli intelligence, however, suggests Iran has violated the deal several times, most recently in 2015, supplying Hezbollah with SA-22 surface-to-air missiles.

The Israeli reports were supported by Moscow's intelligence services, which had received similar reports from the Russian Air Force, operating in Syria.

An unnamed Russian official told the Kuwaiti daily that Moscow has made it clear to both Tehran and Damascus that despite their joint efforts to keep Syrian President Bashar Assad in power, "Russia's interests in Syria are dissimilar, even contradictory, to Iran's interests in the area."

The S-300, first deployed by the Soviet Union in 1979 during the Cold War, has the capability to track and intercept multiple aircraft and ballistic missiles simultaneously at ranges of hundreds of kilometers. It is one of the most potent air defense weapons in the world.

Russia canceled a contract to deliver S-300s to Iran in 2010 under pressure from the West, but Putin lifted that self-imposed ban in early 2015.

Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=32875

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