Israel has lobbied hard in Russia against the sale of the Surface to Air Missile (SAM) Systems to Tehran. The arrival of the S-300 system in Iran has been delayed by several months. Iran now claims that it can locally produce the missiles and has threatened to duplicate and mass produce the S-300. The S-300 definitely would stop Israel from attacking the country. The Russian delay is life-threatening to Iran.
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“If Tehran obtained the S-300, it would be a game-changer in military thinking for tackling Iran,” says long-time Pentagon advisor Dan Goure.
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Speaking to Mehr News Agency on Saturday, Head of Iran’s Foreign Policy and National Security Commission in Parliament Alaeddin Boroujerdi said Tehran and Russia have a long history of military cooperation and it is crucial that Russia honors its commitments with respect to Iran.
“The Russians should meet their commitment on the delivery of the missile system, which will only be used to defend the country’s territory,” said the Iranian lawmaker.
He was referring to the Russian-made S-300 surface-to-air missile system, which can track targets and fire at aircraft 120 km (75 miles) away, features high jamming immunity and is able to simultaneously engage up to 100 targets.
Boroujerdi went on to warn Russia that “Iran is not a country which would stop short of action in dealing with countries who fail to deliver on their promises.”
He said that while the Islamic Republic will be able to mass produce the system in the near future, Russia’s commitment to the deal could lay the ground for future cooperation.
The remarks come as Russia and Iran clinched a deal on the sale of S-300 system in December 2007. Unofficial reports claim that the Russian-Iranian contract on the sale of the S-300 missiles is worth $800 million.
The delay on the delivery of the system comes as earlier in September, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a secret trip to Moscow during which he is believed to have discussed with Russian leaders measures to hold off on providing the ultramodern anti-aircraft missiles to Iran.
After the media spilled the beans on the controversial visit, Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, refused to deny the reports about the Israeli official’s secret trip.
“I am only going to say: to verify the rumor you should go to the source of the rumor,” he said. “Our co-operation with Iran is quite legitimate. We are not selling offensive weapons to Iran.”
Lavrov described the S-300 system as purely defensive, adding, “As far as the trade of military elements goes, Russia has not violated [its] international obligations.”
Despite the remarks by the Russian foreign minister, Russia has yet to deliver the system to Iran and military officials in Moscow are yet to give an explanation about the delay.
Meanwhile, as rumors began to circulate that Moscow had scrapped the deal, deputy director for Russia’s federal service for military-technical cooperation Konstantin Biryulin said on Thursday that the matter was still under consideration despite mounting Western pressure over military dealings with Iran.
“The issue of S-300 deliveries is still under discussion,” he was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti.
Reacting to the delay, a top Iranian military official urged Russia on Friday to honor its military contract with the Tehran government and deliver the promised S-300 surface-to-air missiles.
Major General Hassan Firouzabadi, the chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces, said that Moscow was now six months late in delivering the S-300 missiles to Tehran.
“Don’t the Russian [political and military] strategists consider the geopolitical significance of Iran in ensuring Russia’s security,” asked Firouzabadi.
Iran says it has opted to acquire the sophisticated S-300 defense system — which, according to Western experts, would rule out the possibility of an Israeli airstrike on Iranian nuclear sites — to protect the country in case of any such attack.
Israel has repeatedly threatened to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, including the uranium enrichment plant at Natanz or the country’s first atomic power plant, which has been under construction by Russian workers in Bushehr for years, arguing that the country’s nuclear activities are an existential threat to Tel Aviv’s security.
This is while Tehran says its nuclear program is aimed at the civilian applications of the technology and has called for the removal of weapons of mass destruction from across the globe. Press TV In warning to Russia, Iran says it can build S-300, Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:22:20 GMT
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| RUPEE NEWS | July 27th, 2008 | Moin Ansari | ???? ??????? | ????? ????? |
Iran's Russaion Air defense capable of firing at aricraft 75 miles away
Russia is to supply Iran with a new and lethal anti-aircraft system capable of shooting down American or Israeli fighter jets in the event of any strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Iran has confirmed that Russia had agreed to deliver the S-300 air defence system, a move that is likely to irk the Bush administration and gives further proof of Russia and Iran’s deepening strategic partnership…
“It’s purely a defensive system. But it’s very effective. It’s much better than the US system. It has good radar. It can shoot down low-flying cruise missiles, though with some difficulty.”
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Russia to supply S-300 air defense system to Tehran www.chinaview.cn 2007-12-26 20:05:15
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Special Report: Iran Nuclear Crisis
TEHRAN, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) — Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said on Wednesday that Russia will deliver the S-300 air defense system to Iran, local Fars news agency reported. ”The S-300 missile system will be delivered to Iran according to a contract which has already been signed by Iran and Russia,” Najjar was quoted as saying. Speaking on the sidelines of a ceremony for the inauguration of two defense projects, Najjar said that “the time for delivery of the S-300 system will be announced later.” The system has the capability to trace and attack targets at higher distances and is of high advantage to our country, he added. The S-300 is a series of Russia’s longer range surface-to-air missile systems. It was developed as a system against aircraft and cruise missiles for former Soviet Union’s anti-air defense branch of the military, but later variations were also developed to intercept ballistic missiles. It is more powerful than the Tor-M1 missile defense system which Russia delivered to Iran earlier this year. Moscow cut an one-billion-U.S.-dollar deal with Tehran in November 2005 to supply it with Tor-M1 missiles. Russian officials described the missiles as air defense systems that are used only to bring down aircraft and guided missiles at low altitudes but cannot strike ground targets. Russian news agency Interfax said Tor-M1 is capable of simultaneously tracing up to 48 targets and firing at two targets flying at altitudes ranging from 20 to 6,000 meters. Editor: Wang Hongjiang
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Adds second analyst, US official) By Dan WilliamsTEL AVIV, July 23 (Reuters) – Iran is set to receive an advanced Russian-made anti-aircraft system by the end of the year that could help fend off strikes against its nuclear facilities, senior Israeli defence sources said on Wednesday.
First delivery of the S-300 missile batteries was expected as soon as early September, one source said, though it could take six to 12 months for them to be deployed and operable.
Iran, which already has TOR-M1 surface-to-air missiles from Russia, said last December that an unspecified number of S-300s were on order. Moscow denied there was any such deal.
Washington has led a diplomatic drive to deny Iran access to nuclear technology with bomb-making potential, while hinting that force could be a last resort. Israel, whose warplanes have been training for long-range missions, made similar threats.
The allies appear to differ on when Iran, which denies seeking atomic weapons, might get S-300s. The best S-300 can track 100 targets at once and fire on planes 120 km (75 miles) away.
“Based on what I know, it’s highly unlikely that those air defence missiles would be in Iranian hands any time soon,” U.S. Secretary of Defence Robert Gates said in a July 9 briefing when asked about the S-300 — also known in the West as the SA-20.
Gates meant that Iran was a good number of months away from acquiring the system, a U.S. official said. An Israeli defence official said Iran’s contract with Russia required that the S-300s be delivered by the end of 2008. A second source said first units would arrive in early September.
Experts say the S-300 would compound the challenges that Iran — whose nuclear sites are numerous, dispersed, and fortified — already poses for any future air strike campaign.
TIPPING POINT?
“The S-300 could prove to be a tipping point for the United States and Israel,” said Sam Gardiner, a retired U.S. air force colonel who conducts wargames for various Washington agencies.
Israel does not have strategic “stealth” bombers like the United States, though the Israeli air force is believed to have developed its own radar-evading and jamming technologies.
“There’s no doubt that the S-300s would make an air attack more difficult,” the Israeli official said. “But there’s an answer for every counter-measure, and as far as we’re concerned, the sooner the Iranians get the new system, the more time we will have to inspect the deployments and tactical doctrines.” Israel, which is assumed to have the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal, carried out a large-scale air force drill over the Mediterranean last month which was widely seen as a “dress rehearsal” for a possible raid on Iran. Some analysts also described it as a bid to pressure the West to step up sanctions.
The exercise involved flying over parts of Greece, which is among a handful of countries to have bought and deployed S-300s. But Greek media quoted Athens officials as saying that the system’s radars were turned off during the Israeli presence.
According to the Israeli official, it would take a year for Iran to deploy the S-300s and man them with trained operators.
Robert Hewson, editor of Jane’s Air-Launched Weapons, said: “The minimum work-up time to be comfortable with the system is six months, but more time is preferable.”
Hewson said the Iranian S-300 deal was being conducted via Belarus to afford discretion for Russia, which is already under Western scrutiny for helping Iran build a major atomic reactor.
“Belarus is the proxy route whenever Russia wants to deny it is doing the sale. But nothing happens along that route without Moscow saying so,” he said. (Additional reporting by David Morgan in Washington and Daniel Flynn in Athens; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
