Russia to refund Iranian S-300 deposit
Russia will refund the $166.8 million deposit that Iran paid for the now-cancelled-sale of the S-300 anti-missile system, and with that it regards the matter as closed. The Russians are claiming that the UN sanctions against Iran - which their foreign minister is still making noises about opposing - prevent the sale. Iranian officials have criticized Moscow's move and accused it of caving in to US pressure. The United States and Israel have strongly objected to the deal, which would have significantly boosted Iran's air defense capability.Russia would really like to make this sale - both because it needs the money and because they believe that being clearly in the Western camp is against their interests. But the Americans were apparently able to bring enough economic pressure on Russia (and possibly pressure relating to the new START treaty, which still needs Senate ratification) to prevail upon it to cancel the sale.
However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he opposes the sanctions.
"They are a violation, even without mentioning the legal aspect," he said.
Lavrov appeared to take issue with separate sanctions passed against Iran by the US and EU in addition to the UN Security Council sanctions.
"If we work jointly, and if our Western partners are saying all the time that it is necessary to maintain a consolidated position on Iran, we need to decide whether we will have a consolidated position on all issues... but if something cannot be achieved, individual states will do it beyond agreements reached with the Security Council."
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:45 AM
1 Comments:
Maybe Carl, the reason is they don't want to be imbarrased. Why partner with a nation (Iran) who is about to fall while it's radar is non effective against an Israeli or 'Coalition' attack. Remember how well it protected Syria?
Shiloh
Shabbat Shalom
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