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Russia says S300 missile delivery to Iran delayed
[Al Arabiya Latest] The delivery of advanced Russian-made S-300 air defense missiles to Iran has been delayed for technical reasons, a senior Russian official told the Interfax news agency on Wednesday.The comments come after the prime minister of Iran's arch-foe Israel Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week urged the Kremlin not to sell the system to Iran during a two-day trip to Moscow. "The delay is due to technical problems. The delivery will be carried out when they are resolved," Alexander Fomin, deputy head of Russia's Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, was quoted as saying. Russia's contract to sell the S-300s to Iran has raised hackles in the United States and Israel, which believe that Tehran could use the sophisticated air defense missiles to defend its nuclear facilities against attack. Neither the United States nor Israel has ruled out air strikes in order to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Analysts say that S-300s could greatly complicate such air strikes. If it doesn't mysteriously shut down just before the evil Joooz fly by ... Fomin, whose service oversees Russian arms exports, made the comments in an interview with Interfax while attending a defense exhibition in New Delhi, DefExpo India 2010. He did not clarify what the technical problems were or how long it would take to fix them, Interfax reported. Posted by: Fred 2010-02-18 |
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