(NSI News Source Info) MOSCOW — February 21, 2009: Iran's defense minister said Friday he hopes to obtain new weapons from Russia to upgrade the nation's arsenals.
Iran has relied on Russian military assistance in the past and hopes to continue doing so, Mostafa Mohammed Najjar said. 
Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammed Najjar seen at a news conference in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Feb. 20, 2009. Najjar voiced hope for boosting military ties with Russia.
"Russia has advanced military technologies, we have used them and plan to keep using them," he said at a news conference.
Najjar wouldn't elaborate on what specific weapons Iran was seeking. He met with his Russian counterpart and toured some Russians weapons plants during his five-day visit that began Monday.
Moscow has developed close ties with Tehran and is building its first nuclear power plant.
Russia also has supplied weapons to Iran, including Tor-M1 air-defense missiles, despite U.S. and Israeli complaints. However, Russian officials have rejected claims that they have provided Iran with more powerful, long-range S-300 air defense missile systems.
Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammed Najjar seen at a news conference in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Feb. 20, 2009. Najjar voiced hope for boosting military ties with Russia.
"Russia has advanced military technologies, we have used them and plan to keep using them," he said at a news conference.
Najjar wouldn't elaborate on what specific weapons Iran was seeking. He met with his Russian counterpart and toured some Russians weapons plants during his five-day visit that began Monday.
Moscow has developed close ties with Tehran and is building its first nuclear power plant.
Russia also has supplied weapons to Iran, including Tor-M1 air-defense missiles, despite U.S. and Israeli complaints. However, Russian officials have rejected claims that they have provided Iran with more powerful, long-range S-300 air defense missile systems.Supplying the S-300s to Iran would markedly change the military balance in the Middle East and the issue has been the subject of intense speculation and diplomatic wrangling for months.
Israel and the U.S. fear that, were Iran to possess S-300 missiles, it would use them to protect its nuclear facilities, including the uranium enrichment plant at Natanz or the country's first atomic power plant now under construction at Bushehr by Russian contractors.
That would make any potential military strike on the Iranian facilities much more difficult.
Anatoly Isaikin, head of the Russian Rosoboronexport state arms-selling monopoly, was quoted in an interview published earlier this month as saying that it had not supplied S-300s to Iran yet but was ready to do so if ordered by the government.
Russia's daily Kommersant has said earlier this week that Moscow had frozen the sale of S-300s, pending the first meeting between President Barack Obama and Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev.
Russia hopes that Obama could reverse course on the previous administration's plan to deploy missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic, and NATO's eastward expansion.
But Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned this week that Russia has no intention to toughen its policy toward Iran regarding its nuclear program. The statement sounded like a signal that Russia had no intention to offer any immediate trade-offs on Iran.
Israel, the U.S. and much of the international community believe Iran is secretly developing nuclear weapons. Tehran insists its uranium enrichment program is intended solely for civilian energy needs.
Russia has sizable economic ties with Iran, including the $1 billion contract to build the nuclear power plant at Bushehr which is expected to go online this year. Moscow has supported limited U.N. sanctions on Iran, but worked to blunt efforts by the U.S. and others to impose tougher measures.
No comments:
Post a Comment