Reuters: Russia has so far not supplied S-300 air defense missiles to Iran, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said Wednesday.
FRYAZINO, Russia (Reuters) – Russia has so far not supplied S-300 air defense missiles to Iran, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said Wednesday.
Asked when Russia would deliver the systems to Iran, Ivanov said: "There have been no such deliveries to date."
Ivanov, who oversees the defense sector in the Russian government, told reporters that the S-300 system was defensive.
The United States and Israel have pressed Russia not to fulfill a contract to supply the formidable S-300 system to Iran.
Israel says the S-300 systems could be used by Tehran to defend Iranian nuclear facilities against potential air strikes.
The truck-mounted S-300PMU1, known in the West as the SA-20, can shoot down cruise missiles and aircraft. It can fire at targets up to 150 km (90 miles) away and can travel at more than 2 km per second.
(Reporting by Denis Dyomkin, writing by Guy Faulconbridge, editing by Dmitry Solovyov)