Source: Tehran Times Political Desk
(NSI News
Source Info) TEHRAN, Iran - February 25, 2010: A senior MP said on Wednesday that Iran will manufacture the S-300 air defense missile system itself, if Russia does not honor its commitment to deliver the system to Tehran.
“With the capability we have, if Russians do not give us S-300, we ourselves will manufacture it (the system),” Alaedding Boroujerdi, the chairman of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, told the Mehr News Agency. It is in Russia’s interests to deliver the system to Iran, he reiterated.
Russia signed a contract in 2007 to sell the S-300 missile system, but it has not delivered the missiles so far.
The S-300 system, which can track targets and fire at aircraft 120 kilometers (75 miles) away, features high jamming immunity and is able to simultaneously engage up to 100 targets.
The truck-mounted S-300PMU1, known in the West as the SA-20, can shoot down cruise missiles and aircraft. It can fire at targets up to 150 km (90 miles) away and travel at more than two km per second. 
Iran 's status regarding the S-300 system remains controversial. They seem to have acquired an unknown number of S-300PMU-1 missiles in 1993, maybe even 300 recently from Belarus. Iran claimed to have signed a contract with Russia on 25 December 2007 on the sales of the S-300PMU-2 missile system. Russian officials have denied this. According to senior Israeli defence sources Iran is to receive S-300s by 2009, deliveries will take place from September until begin 2009. It has also been claimed that Croatia sold their S-300s to Iran. Later, another claim was made saying Libya transferred S-300s to Iran. On December 21, according to a senior Iranian lawmaker, Russia has started the supply of components for S-300 air defense systems to Iran. Esmaeil Kosari, deputy chairman of the parliamentary commission on national security and foreign policy, told the Iranian news agency IRNA that Iran and Russia had held negotiations for several years on the purchase of S-300 air defense systems and had finalized a deal. Kosari said the Islamic Republic would deploy S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to strengthen national defense on border areas. On 28 October 2009, When asked when Russia would deliver the systems to Iran, Ivanov said: "There have been no such deliveries to date." Yet on 23 December 2009, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin said Russia sees no reason to cancel a deal to provide S-300s to Iran. He said "
"Exports of such weapons is subject to no UN treaty or other bilateral agreements, This is why we see no essential reason to make any change in the deal," indicating that there is a deal. On 8 February 2010, Iran announced that it had a "domestically-made" system with the same capabilities as the S-300.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Boroujerdi pointed to a recent report by the International Atomic Energy Agency director in which Iran was asked to present its missile capabilities documents to the IAEA, saying Iran’s missile capabilities “are none of the agency’s concern”.
The top diplomat asked, “Where was the agency (IAEA)” when the Iraqi regime under Saddam Hussein targeted Iranian cities by missiles provided to Saddam by arrogant powers.
And “where were the other international bodies, and what measures did they take” that now the IAEA is asking Iran to give information about its missiles.
The senior lawmaker said Iran is making serious efforts to promote its missile capabilities since maintaining the country’s sovereignty and improving its defense system is highly important.
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