Russia's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday denied selling S-300 air defense systems to Iran or other Middle East countries and said that its military-level cooperation with Tehran is in strict compliance with the international non-proliferation requirements.
"Russia has sold to Iran only defensive weapons that cannot destabilize the situation in the region. At present Russia sells no S-300 complexes to the Middle East or Southwest Asia. We are not discussing the outlook for arms supplies to Iran or to any other countries for reasons that are quite obvious and have commercial nature," the state-run ITAR-Tass news agency quoted the Foreign Ministry as saying in a statement.
Earlier in the day, Russian news agencies had quoted a senior unnamed official in Russia's Federal Service of Military-Technical Cooperation as saying that Moscow has not yet delivered the sophisticated S-300 air defense systems to Iran, despite signing an agreement in this regard two years ago.
He was quoted as saying by the Itar-Tass news agency that the "contract is being fulfilled gradually," and that further "fulfillment of the contract will mainly depend on the current international situation and the decision of the country's leadership."
The Russian S-300 missile system is believed to be capable of intercepting and destroying ballistic missiles at a range of more than 40 kilometers, and its performance is said to be similar to the American Patriot missile system.
Both Israel and the United States had voiced their opposition to the Russian plans to sell S-300 air defense systems to Iran. They suspect that Tehran is trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear power generation program.
The U.S. and Israel has not ruled out attacks on Iran's atomic facilities, and they fear that the sophisticated Russian air defense system could hinder such attacks.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.