Russia scraps missile sale plan to Iran

MOSCOW, Sept. 22, 2010 (Xinhua) --

Russia has scrapped plans to deliver S-300 air defense missile systems to Iran as they fall under the U.N. sanctions, Russian Chief of General Staff Nikolai Makarov said Wednesday.

"A decision has been made not to supply S-300s to Iran. They are definitely subject to the sanctions," Makarov told reporters in Ramenskoye in the Moscow region.

"There has been an instruction from the leadership to stop the shipment, and we are obeying it," he said.

However, Makarov meanwhile did not specify whether the S-300 missile sale contract signed with Tehran in late 2007 would be terminated. "Time will show. It will depend on Iran's behavior," he said.

The S-300 air defense system is an advanced mobile system that can shoot down aircraft and cruise missiles from up to 150 km away.

Iran struck a deal with Russia to buy S-300 missile systems in 2007, but Russia has delayed the delivery of the missiles. The United States and Israel oppose the missile sale to Iran.

Russian officials repeatedly said that it was up to President Dmitry Medvedev to decide what weapons may fall under the new sanctions imposed on Tehran by the UN Security Council. \

Russia not to deliver S-300 missiles to Iran -Russian top general

RAMENSKOYE (MOSCOW REGION), September 22, 2010 (RIA Novosti)

Russia will not deliver S-300 air defense missiles to Iran as planned because such transfers are prohibited under UN sanctions, the chief of the Russian general staff said Wednesday.

"The decision has been made not to deliver S-300s to Iran," General Nikolai Makarov told journalists at an aircraft equipment production plant in the Moscow Region's town of Ramenskoye.

"They are of course covered by the sanctions," he said, adding: "The leadership decided to halt the delivery process. We are carrying this decision out."

Answering the question whether a relevant contract with Iran will be cancelled, Makarov said "we will see - it will depend on Iran's behavior."

Western powers suspect that Iran's nuclear enrichment program is aimed at producing weapons, but Tehran claims it needs high-enriched uranium to fuel a reactor producing medical isotopes.

In late August, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said a decision on the delivery of S-300 missiles to Iran had not yet been taken.

Russia signed a contract on delivering at least five S-300 systems to Iran in December 2005. The contract's implementation had so far been delayed as experts considered whether the missiles fall under the sanctions imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in June.

The sanctions include a ban on supplies on conventional arms to the Islamic Republic. According to the document, "states are prohibited from selling or in any way transferring to Iran eight broad categories of heavy weapons (battle tanks, armored combat vehicles, large caliber artillery systems, combat aircraft, attack helicopters, warships, missiles or missile systems).

However, the S-300 air defense systems are not included in the UN Register of Conventional Arms.