Russia: We are ready to send the second part of the S-300 system to Iran

The head of the Federal Military-Technical Cooperation Agency of Russia announced the country's readiness to send the second part of the S-300 missile system to Iran in the near future. According to Izvestia on Tuesday (July 14), Alexander Fomin made this statement in an interview with the newspaper. He said, 'We have sent the first part, which is a complete set, and we intend to send the second part as well. Our partners must also make the necessary payments.' Fomin also stated that everything is ready on the Russian side for loading and sending, and if payment is made, the second part of the S-300 system will be sent to Iran. Tehran must pay $900 million for the complete delivery of this system, which is $100 million more than the previous contract. The S-300 anti-aircraft missile can target aircraft at a distance of 150 kilometers and track 100 targets simultaneously. Israel and the United States are the main opponents of delivering this missile system to Iran, and the U.S. has even threatened that delivering the S-300 anti-aircraft systems to Iran could lead to new sanctions against Tehran. Iranian media had previously reported that the S-300 missile system was loaded in March 2016 during a ceremony at the Astrakhan port in Russia and was sent to Iran via the Caspian Sea. However, in response to these reports, a senior Russian defense official stated that since Iran had not yet made a payment, the possibility of sending this missile system to Iran did not exist. Nevertheless, in April of this year, Hossein Jaberi Ansari, the spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, announced that the first part of the S-300 missile system equipment had arrived in Iran. Mr. Jaberi Ansari added that other parts of this missile system would also be imported into the country in the future. During the Army Day parade in Tehran on April 29, parts of this missile system were also displayed. Farzad Esmaeili, the commander of the Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base, also announced on Sunday night that the S-300 missile system would be operational by the end of this year. Tehran and Moscow signed a contract to purchase the S-300 missile system worth $800 million in 2007, but Russia refrained from delivering it to Tehran in 2010 following the intensification of international sanctions against Iran. Following the nuclear agreement between Tehran and the P5+1 group in Geneva, Russian President Vladimir Putin lifted the ban on sending this missile system to Iran.