Iran and Russia have decided to see through a long-pending agreement regarding the sale of missile defense systems to Iran. The sale was suspended in 2010, following the global movement against weapons transactions with Iran. However, as of April 2015, the Putin administration has chosen to revisit the sales agreement. On April 13, 2015 President Vladimir Putin attested a decree voiding the ban without contravening the UN embargo on Iran. Russia Iran S-300 missile defense systems The state-run news agency RIA Novosti carried information regarding the upcoming sale to Iran with a quote from a senior member of the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation confirming, “This week, a memorandum on the implementation of the agreement to supply Russian S-300 missile defense systems to Iran has been signed. It is a kind of a roadmap." Russia, Iran Sign Memorandum Iran has announced that a previously deferred weapons trade agreement with Russia will now be fulfilled. Tehran expects that as part of the memorandum it has just signed with Moscow, the missile defense systems will be delivered to Iran by the end of this year. Hossein Dehghan, the Defense Minister for Iran, announced last month that the deal is likely to come to fruition by the close of 2015. The deal is a step forward on the 2007 agreement between Russia and Iran regarding the sale of five S-300 missile defense systems to Iran. At the time, the deal was valued at $800 million but following the introduction of a UN Security Council sanction against arms trade with Tehran the agreement was suspended. Weapons and military trade experts are of the opinion that the updated agreement is likely to incorporate a change in pricing to reflect more modern defense technology trends. Russia Waits For Iran Nuclear Agreement, Lifts Ban The Russian plan to sell the S-300 missile defense systems to Iran has been in the pipeline for a while now; in 2010, Russia decided against continuing with the sale as a result of the global position against the weaponization of Iran. In keeping with the international trend, Russia, too, imposed a weapons ban against Iran but the same has now been lifted and the sale is to continue as planned. The United Nations Security Council levied an arms embargo against Iran in the year 2007 through United Nations Security Council Resolution 1747, banning arms sales to and purchases from Iran following international cynicism regarding Tehran’s denials of the country building and stockpiling... More