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Iran has no plans to buy S-400 from Russia

Iran has received offers from the Russian side regarding supplies of S-400 or Antei-2500 instead of S-300 systems
S-400 air defense system Mikhail Metzel/TASS
S-400 air defense system
© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

TEHRAN, August 20. /TASS/. Iran does not have plans to buy from Russia S-400 or Antei-2500 missile systems, Iran’s Defense Minister Brigade General Hossein Dehghan said during a news conference on Saturday.

"Iran has received offers from the Russian side regarding supplies of S-400 or Antei-2500 instead of S-300 systems," he said. "However, we have not accepted the offer."

The defense minister continued by saying Iran had revoked its claim against Russia related to Russia’s decision to suspend supplies of the anti-missile complexes.

"As Russia is fulfilling its liabilities and is carrying out supplies in strict compliance with the schedule, Iran sees no grounds for legal claims," Hossein Naghavi Hosseini, the spokesman for the Iranian Majlis’ (parliament) national security and foreign policy committee, said a week earlier. "The bulk of the systems have already been delivered to Iran, the rest are being supplied. These systems have already been partially deployed at places of permanent deployment in Iran, personnel is undergoing necessary training."

"At the same time, we still hold the right to file the claim again if the Russian side does not observe its obligations under the contract," the Iranian defense minister said.

The contract on supplies of S-300 missile defense systems was signed with Iran in 2007. However its implementation was suspended after the United Nations Security Council passed on June 9, 2010 resolution 1929 which banned transfer of any state-of-the-art weapons, including missile and missile systems, to Teheran. In April 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin lifted the ban on supplies of S-300 systems to Iran and the contract was resumed in November 2015. The contract will be implemented by the yearend, according to Sergei Chemezon, CEO of Russia’s state corporation Rostec. Last week, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Russia has fulfilled 50% of its liabilities under the contract.