It's official: Russia's not supplying Iran with the S-300
This story was a much bigger topic of conversation on this blog in 2007 and 2008, but now it's official. The Russians have returned to Iran their deposit for the S-300 missile defense system that Iran had planned to use to protect their nuclear facilities. Iran is not going to get the S-300. As difficult as Russia has been regarding sanctions against Iran, they're not willing to make Iran's nuclear program that difficult to penetrate. "The main payment and its interest was returned to Iran by the Russian side," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast said in his weekly press conference in Tehran today.The other way Iran might have been able to get the S-300 was via Syria, but by this logic, Russia should not be willing to sell it to Syria either because they are also under sanctions. Of course, there's always Turkey....
"A paragraph had been foreseen in the contract for compensation," he explained, saying that based on international laws, any country which breaches its contract terms with another state should pay indemnity.
The International Court of Arbitration settles international commercial disputes and since the Russian company (responsible for the S-300 contract) is non-governmental, Iran filed a complaint with the court in order to compensate for its losses.
Under a contract signed in 2007, Russia was required to provide Iran with at least five S-300 air-defense systems.
However, Moscow's continued delays in delivering the defense system drew criticism from the Islamic Republic on several occasions.
Russia has been refusing to deliver the system to Iran under the pretext that the system is covered by the fourth round of UN Security Council resolutions against Iran.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev issued a decree in September 2010 prohibiting the sale of S-300 missile systems to Iran, citing restrictions under sanctions the UN Security Council imposed on Tehran in June over its nuclear activities.
Labels: Iranian nuclear threat, Russian weapons, S-300 missile defense system
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:44 AM
4 Comments:
The Russians don't want their systems to be tested by our Air Force and all of their strengths and weaknesses revealed...
Just as our Air Force was the ONLY ONE to face the most advanced Soviet jets in combat since the end of the War in Korea, and to reveal their weak and strong points in real combat, we have been the only one to deal with the most advanced missile defense systems in our war facing the Syrian Army.
Giving their most advanced systems to Iran would be really too costly for them.
I would guess they don't want Iran to use them against Russian aircraft in the Caucuses and they don't want Iran to turn around and sell them to the Chinese either. Last but not least, Iranians, culturally are notoriously difficult to contract with. They are incessantly changing the terms and demands while refusing to honor the terms they last agreed to. One of the well known problems Russia experienced with cooperating with Iran to build their nuclear plants was that Iran made it nearly impossible to have reliable project plans because for whatever reason, the Iranian psyche demands, absolutely demands 'victory' over the tiniest most inconsequential terms of every agreement and they will fuss and fight and dig in their heels until they get it, even if it hurts them.
Empress Trudy,
Are you describing Iran or the Arabs?
Empress Trudy, that sounds like Iranians are the societal equivalent of a petulant, undisciplined child.
It appears for Iranians and Arabs, if they didn't have oil and gas resources, they'd mostly still be squatting in their Dark Ages squalor.
Post a Comment
<< Home