Iranian ambassador to Russia Mahmoud Reza Sajjadi announced on Thursday that
Iran has filed a lawsuit against Moscow at the International Court of Justice
for failing to deliver the S-300 air defense system to Iran, the Iranian
semiofficial news agency Fars News reported.
Tehran and Moscow signed a
contract in 2007 that guaranteed the delivery of “at least five” S-300 air
defense systems, according to the report.
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Russia and Iran claimed that UN
Security Council Resolution 1929, which enforced economic sanctions of Tehran,
did not apply to the S-300 system because it was not listed specifically in the
text. The resolution, passed on June 9 of last year, imposes sanctions on Iran
for harboring a secret nuclear weapons program and for failing to comply with
requests by the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect nuclear
facilities. It prohibits economic and military cooperation with the Islamic
Republic, thereby prohibiting the sale and delivery of the weapons
system.
“The S-300 missile is not in contradiction with any international
commitments of the two sides [Iran and Russia] and the issue is clearly
emphasized in the deal, on the other hand the date of delivery of the missile
system was two years before the adoption of the UN Security Council recent
resolution against Iran,” Iranian Minister of Defense Brig.-Gen. Ahmad Vahidi
told Azerbaijan’s Trend News Agency in October 2010.
Although Russia
originally assured Iran that it would deliver the system, considerable Western
pressure eventually convinced Moscow to cancel the deal.
