UPDATE: *RUSSIA WILL SUPPLY S-300 TO IRAN QUICKLY: INTERFAX
We showed yesterday the web of interconnected rifts and relationships among The Middle East's local and proxy war members and it seems this morning tensions are escalating once again. As Bloomberg reports, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday lifting a ban on the delivery of S-300 anti-missile rocket systems to Iran. The ban was introduced by former President Dmitry Medvedev in 2010 under pressure from the West following UN sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program.
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Russia says it cancelled a contract to deliver the advanced missile system to Iran in 2010 under pressure from the West following UN sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program, but world powers and Tehran have now reached an interim deal on curbing Iran's nuclear work.
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“[The presidential] decree lifts the ban on transit through Russian territory, including airlift, and the export from the Russian Federation to the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also the transfer to the Islamic Republic of Iran outside the territory of the Russian Federation, both by sea and by air, of air defense missile systems S-300,” says the information note accompanying the document, RIA Novosti reported.
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Of course what this really means is that the next Saudi airplane to crash over "east Iran" will lead to recriminations against Russia.. and more isolation.
Russian foreign minsiter Lavrov adds:
- *LAVROV: RUSSIA LIFTED IRAN S-300 BAN TO AID TALKS: RIA
- *LAVROV: NO MORE NEED FOR IRAN S-300 EMBARGO: RIA
- *LAVROV: S-300 NOT THREATENING ISRAEL, OTHER NATIONS: RIA
- *LAVROV SAYS S-300 ARE PURELY DEFENSIVE SYSTEMS: RIA
