TEHRAN - MP Mahdi Sanaie, the chairman of the Iran-Russia parliamentary friendship committee, says Moscow is seeking a “new agreement” on the delivery of the S-300 missile system to Iran.

Russian officials have made contradictory remarks about the delivery of missiles to Iran. For example, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced on June 10 that the delivery of the S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to Iran would not be affected by new UN sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
“I can say that no anti-aircraft systems, except man-portable air-defense missile complexes, are included in the UN Register of Conventional Arms,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also made similar remarks. “As far as military-technical cooperation is concerned, the resolution introduces limits to cooperation with Iran on offensive weapons and defensive weapons do not fall under these limits,” Lavrov told reporters.
However, French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s office said on June 11 that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had told France that Moscow would freeze the delivery of surface-to-air missiles to Iran.
Sanaie said Russia is fully obligated to deliver the missiles to Iran and “no pretext is acceptable for refusing” to ship the missiles to Iran.
“If Russia does not deliver the S-300 missile system, it will not only inflict serious damage on the cooperation between the two countries, but it will also damage (Russia’s) reputation for finding new partners in the region,” Sanaie told the Mehr News Agency on Tuesday.
The MP said foreign pressure is the main reason behind the delay in transferring the missile system to Iran.
The contract for the sale of the missile system was signed in 2005, and Iran paid the money for it, and some steps have even been taken for the delivery of the missiles to Iran, he explained.
“Of course, it is expected that the missile system will be delivered to Iran. However, from time to time, some issues have been raised as preconditions for the delivery, and recently the Russians have announced that a new agreement should be signed by the two countries before the shipment of this system,” said Sanaie, who is a member of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee.
Russia must be aware of the fact that nowadays the market is filled with defensive weapons and currently there are systems which are more advanced than the S-300 missile system, he added.