Report: Israeli Sources Say Russia To Supply New Iran Air Defenses
Iran is set to receive an advanced Russian-made anti-aircraft system by the year’s end that could help fend off any preemptive strikes against its nuclear facilities, senior Israeli defense sources told Reuters on Wednesday.
The first delivery of the S-300 missile batteries was expected as soon as early September, one source said, though it could take six to 12 months for them to be deployed and operable – a possible reprieve for Israeli and American military planners.
Washington has led a diplomatic drive to deny Iran access to nuclear technologies with bomb-making potential, while hinting that force could be a last resort. Israel, whose warplanes have been training for long-range missions, has made similar threats.
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But the allies appear to differ on when Iran, which denies seeking atomic arms, might get the S-300. The most sophisticated version of the system can track 100 targets at once and fire on planes 120 km (75 miles) away.
Iran, which already has TOR-M1 surface-to-air missiles from Russia, announced last December that an unspecified number of S-300s were on order. But Moscow denied there was any such deal.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has denied knowledge of the Russian delivery.
“Based on what I know, it’s highly unlikely that those air defense missiles would be in Iranian hands any time soon,” said Gates, responding in a July 9 briefing to a question about the S-300 – also known in the West as the SA-20.
Gates meant that Iran was a good number of months away from acquiring the system, a U.S. official said.
An Israeli defense official said Iran’s contract with Russia required that the S-300s be delivered by the end of 2008. A second source said first units would arrive in early September.
The official agreed with the assessments of independent experts that the S-300 would compound the challenges that Iran – whose nuclear sites are numerous, distant, and fortified – would already pose for any future air strike campaign by Israel.
