Russia to sell Iran S-300 air defense system

Russia and Iran are set to sign a contract next week for the purchase of four S-300 surface-to-air missile systems, Iran’s Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan says.

The system is among the most advanced in the world. Israel fears it could help give Iran the ability to fend off possible airstrikes against its nuclear program.

“The text of the contract is ready and our friends will go to Russia next week to sign the contract,” Dehghan says, according to Reuters quoting the official Iranian news agency Fars.

A Russian air defense missile system Antey 2500, or S-300 VM, is on display at the opening of the MAKS Air Show in Zhukovsky outside Moscow, August 27, 2013. (AP/Ivan Sekretarev, File)

The sale of the systems to Iran was canceled in 2010 in keeping with international sanctions against Iran’s nuclear program. With the signing of a nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers last month, Moscow has lifted the ban.