Jerusalem Post:
MOSCOW – Supplying Iran with Russian S-300 missile defense systems is not a matter of the nearest future, TASS news agency quoted a Foreign Ministry official as saying on Thursday.
“It is more important that a political and legal decision, which opens up such a possibility, is taken,” Sergei Ryabkov, a deputy foreign minister, said according to TASS.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in a radio interview with Sputnik, tried to downplay the impact of the sale of the S-300 to Iran.
“The S-300 cannot be used for protection against nuclear weapons,” Lavrov said, adding that “the S-300 is only good for protection against non-strategic missiles, against air strikes.”
But he then clarified that, with the S-300, “those who want to deliver a strike at Iran will have to think at least twice before doing it.”
Lavrov said his country has a right to sell the S-300, adding that Iran needs the anti-missile system for self-defense.
“The developments in Yemen and the rest of the region point to huge risks. We don’t want Iran to become another target for the illegitimate use of force,” Lavrov said in the radio interview with Sputnik.
Russia felt free to move forward with the sale of the S-300, he said, because the six powers and Iran had agreed on a framework deal to curb Tehran’s nuclear program, the details of which are expected to be finalized in June…
