Russia not to supply missiles to Iran

Russia has denied that it has supplied advanced surface-to-air missiles, S-300, to Iran, saying that Moscow's defence cooperation with Tehran is "transparent, and fully complies with international law."

The reports of sale of long-range S-300 missiles "has nothing to do with anything that is going on or will happen," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said here.

He was commenting on a report by Iranian national IRNA news agency, which claimed that Russia had supplied S-300 air defence systems to Tehran. The US too, citing intelligence reports, demanded an explanation from Russia amid concerns over Tehran's nuclear programme.

"I am very surprised by the fuss this story has caused recently. I think this is due to lack of interesting international news in the run-up to the holidays that many of our Western neighbours are celebrating," the minister said.

Ryabkov underscored that Moscow's defence cooperation with Tehran is "transparent and complied fully with international and Russian laws".

Earlier on Monday, the Russian federal service for military cooperation with foreign countries also issued a similar denial.

Although a "purely defensive weapon" the S-300 (NATO codename SA-20) SAMs have very powerful radars and if supplied to Iran, it can track every movement of the US aircraft in Iraq and the Gulf region the moment they take-off, Director of Moscow-based independent CAST think-tank Ruslan Pukhov said.

According to reports, Iran recently received 29 Tor-M1 air defence missile systems from Russia under a USD700 million contract signed in late 2005. Russia has also trained Iranian Tor-M1 specialists, including radar operators and crew commanders.