TASS:
MOSCOW, April 27. /TASS/. Nobody will be able to obstruct Iran’s efforts to strengthen its “missile defense capability,” Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan said at the Moscow International Security Conference on Wednesday.
“Iran… with the aim of attaining its objectives and securing rational interests will be taking steps at the highest levels for the military equipment of its armed forces,” the minister said. “And no will or organization will be able to stand on the way and obstruct the development and upsurge of the defense capability, especially missile defense capability of Iran.”
Iran will never threaten other countries
The minister stresses that Iran has never made and will not make threats to security of other countries
“Iran has never made and will not make threats to security interests of other countries and condemns aggression and use of force against sovereign states,” the Minister said.
He added, “Iran focuses on production capacities, as well as on partnership, cooperation, and will continue rigorously pursuing its programs.”
Russian air defense system supplies to Iran
Russia has recently started supplying its S-300 air defense systems to Iran. On Tuesday, the chief of the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, Alexander Fomin, said the supply of Russia’s S-300 air defense missile systems to Iran was meeting the schedule.
On April 21, the Islamic Republic’s parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, said in an exclusive interview with TASS First Deputy Director-General Mikhail Gusman that the delivery of Russian S-300 surface-to-air missile systems (NATO reporting name SA-10 Grumble) to Iran boosted security in the region. “As regards the contract for supplies of S-300s, the issue is the cornerstone of defense sphere talks between Iran and Russia,” Larijani said. “The situation in the region obliges us to have stable security. That’s why we had to decide by which means and measures that stable security could be achieved.” “We believed that if Iran and Russia are able to reach long-term agreements, this may contribute to achievement of stable security,” he said.
Russia and Iran signed a contract in 2007 for the supply of five S-300PMU-1 battalions but in the autumn of 2010 then-President Dmitry Medvedev banned the supply of these systems to Tehran. The contract worth more than $800 million was annulled and the paid advance was returned to Iran. Iran filed an almost $4 billion lawsuit against Russia at the Geneva Court of Arbitration over Russia’s nonfulfillment of the contract.
In the spring of 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin lifted the ban on the supply of S-300 systems to Teheran.
The S-300 is a series of highly capable, long-range surface-to-air missile complexes first deployed in the USSR in 1979 and later modified by the Russian armed forces. As well as targeting aircraft, the fully mobile units have the capacity to engage ballistic missiles. TASS learned at the Dubai Airshow 2015 international aerospace exhibition that Iran would get the S-300PMU-2 version of the air defense system.
