BAKU, August 13 (RIA Novosti) – The head of Russia’s state-run arms export monopoly said Tuesday that his agency had no plans to provide Iran with replacements for S-300 missile defense systems that Russia has refused to deliver.
“I will only be able to speak about that if there were any deals or when there would be deals, but there are none,” Rosoboronexport’s Anatoly Isaikin told journalists in Baku when asked about possible S-300 replacements.
Russia signed a deal in 2007 to provide Iran with four S-300 batteries. But Russia reneged on the agreement in 2011, when the Kremlin, after much nagging from Washington, imposed unilateral sanctions on Tehran due to concerns over its nuclear program. Iran filed a $4 billion lawsuit over the failed deal, which is pending review in an international arbitration court in Geneva.
Russian media said in June, citing undisclosed Russian arms industry sources, that Russia had offered to provide Iran instead with Antei-2500 systems, which are comparable to S-300 in battle capacity.
However, that proposal was never officially confirmed. Last week, Iran’s ambassador to Moscow, Seyed Mahmoud-Reza Sajjadi, said Russia and Iran were not in talks over the possibility of Antei-2500 shipments.
