Iran confirms delivery of first batch of Russia’s S-300 air defense missile systems

TEHRAN, April 11. /TASS/. The first batch of Russia’s S-300 air defense missile systems has been delivered to Iran, press secretary of the Iranian Foreign Ministry Hossein Jaber Ansari said on Monday.

"The first batch of the Russian S-300 air defense missile systems has arrived in Iran," the TASNIM news agency of Iran quotes the ministry official as saying.

Russia and Iran has concluded a contract on the supply of five battalions of the S-300 system in 2007, however, in autumn 2010 Dmitry Medvedev, who held the post of the Russian president then, banned the supply of these systems to Tehran due to the UN sanctions imposed on Iran. The contract worth more than $800 million was cancelled and the advance payment was returned to the Iranian side.

Later, Iran lodged a $4 billion lawsuit at an international court in Geneva against Russia’s arms export agency over Russia’s nonfulfillment of its obligations under the contract. According to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, "through lengthy and complicated negotiations" Russia succeeded in settling this dispute in court.

In spring 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin lifted the ban on the S-300 missile system delivery to Iran.

S-300 (NATO reporting name SA-10 Grumble) is a missile defense system designed to fire surface-to-air missiles at aerial targets such as helicopters, warplanes and cruise or ballistic missiles.