S-300 missile supplies to Iran to redraw regional deterrence posture - Russian lawmaker

MOSCOW, April 13. /TASS/. Possible supplies of S-300 air defense missile systems to Iran from Russia, after Moscow lifted its embargo on the deliveries of these missile systems to the Middle East state on Monday, will help to reorganize the regional deterrence posture, a senior Russian lawmaker said. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday to lift the ban on the supplies of S-300 air defense missile systems to Iran, which was imposed in 2010. "Deployment of such means of strategic deterrence will redraw the current situation in the Middle East to a great extent and will help Iran after the deliveries of air defense missile systems to provide for security of its infrastructure, including nuclear facilities, from the possible air attacks, which Israel regularly threatened with," Nikolai Levichev, a deputy speaker of the Russian parliament’s lower house, the State Duma, said. The Russian lawmaker said such threatening statements "will become unsubstantiated and it will definitely have a positive impact on de-escalation of tensions in the region, which is in acute need of balance of power between the key countries." Levichev said that in the future Russia was likely to "supply Iran with other modern weapons, including combat planes, helicopters, artillery systems, missiles and guided munitions." "Iran, which after the lift of sanctions and expansion of its oil export on the world market would turn into a more pay-worthy customer and would be capable of allowing itself a major rearmament program," Levichev said. Putin’s decision on Monday to lift embargo on the deliveries of S-300 air defense missile systems comes in the wake of progress achieved at the Iran nuclear talks in Switzerland over a week ago paving the way for the international community to gradually lift sanctions from the Islamic Republic. Head of the Center for Analysis of Global Arms Trade Igor Korotchenko said that Russia might return to the 2007 contract on the supplies of S-300 air defense missile systems to Iran. "Let me remind you that the decision to give up the contract was made by then-President [Dmitry] Medvedev and it was a purely Russian decision as S-300 systems did not fall under the bans of the UN Security Council," Korotchenko said. The expert said that instead of the Antey-2500 version, now the talk was most probably about the S-300 system in the configuration that would suit Iran and on which it originally insisted. "Two options are possible: either a return to the contract signed earlier or quick negotiations on specifying the parameters of a new deal, which will be broadly based on the terms of the previously concluded contract," Korotchenko said. When asked about how many S-300 regiments Russia could supply to Iran, the expert said it would supply as many regiments as the Iranian side would ask. Read more