Russia has started the delivery of the S-300 air defence missile systems to Iran that Tehran has already paid for, a senior Russian official revealed Wednesday.
“This contract is being completed and is being paid for. The delivery is underway and there will be other contracts after this one,” Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said during an interview on Russia’s Rossiya-24 television channel.
“This contract for the delivery of the S-300 air defence missile system opens a whole road of cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran both in the military and technical and civilian spheres,” he added.
“We’re expecting to enter the Iranian aviation market with our Sukhoi SuperJet airliners. We plan to supply Iran with the hardware permitted by sanctions, is needed and has not been supplied to Iran for a long time,” the Russian Deputy Prime Minister said.
Russia and Iran signed an $800 million contract in 2007 for the supply of five S-300PMU-1 battalions. However, in 2010, President Dmitry Medvedev banned the supply of these systems to Tehran in the wake of UN Security Council sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
In response Iran filed an almost $4 billion lawsuit against Russia at the Geneva Court of Arbitration over Russia’s non- fulfilment of the contract.
Earlier this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin lifted the ban on the supply of S-300 systems to Tehran.