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Iran may have lined up S-300 SAM systems
By Doug Richardson
09 January 2008
Iran is set to receive Russian S-300 (SA-10 'Grumble') surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems, Iranian Defence Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar stated on 26 December 2007.
Mohammad-Najjar gave no details of the order or the timescale for deliveries, but according to Iranian state radio he said: "The S-300 system will be delivered to Iran within the framework of a contract agreed in the past. The timing of the delivery will be announced at a later date."
The report was confirmed by Iran's Fars News Agency, which gave no further information. Russia's Interfax news agency identified the systems to be provided as S-300PMU-1, stating that deliveries would begin in 2008 under a contract signed several years ago.
The announcement followed a meeting in Tehran in mid-December of a Russian-Iranian commission on military-technical co-operation, which reviewed existing agreements and discussed the possibility of further collaboration.
Early in 2007, Sergei Ivanov, then Russian defence minister, denied reports that Moscow and Tehran were negotiating the sale of long-range SAM systems. Responding to a report in Russian newspaper Kommersant, Ivanov stated that the publication's sources of information were "completely untenable" and insisted that no S-300 sale had been discussed with Iran.