Moscow invites Tehran to bid for S-400 aid defense systems, Russia media reported on Sunday, June 30. Neither the US nor Israel figures in those reports, or last week’s deployment of US F-22 stealth jets to Qatar, amid a tense US-Iran standoff. The Russian Federal Service of Military-Technical Cooperation military cooperation service was quoted as announcing: “We are open for discussions on delivering S-400 Triumph air defense systems, including to Iran… We have not received an official request from our partners on this matter yet.”
The advanced S-400 can intercept cruise missiles as well as warplanes. It is now on offer to Iran although Moscow refused to supply them to the Islamic Republic last month. DEBKAfile notes: This turnabout has come shortly after Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin met in Osaka on the sidelines of the G20 summit and indicates that they made no progress towards bridging their differences on the Iranian and Syria issues. The offer also signified the failure of the American, Russian and Israeli national security advisers, John Bolton, Nikolai Patrushev and Meir Ben-Shabbat, to reach a consensus on these issues when they met in Jerusalem five days ago.
On that occasion Patrushev stated that “Moscow has an interest in safeguarding Israel’s security.”
Our military sources note that Tehran may find an opportunity to accept Moscow’s proposition in the course of the 5th International Military-Technical Forum taking place at the National Park in the Russian capital, with the participation of 120 nations and armies.
If this transaction does indeed go through, Iran will be the second Middle East nation to purchase the Russian S-400 weapons system, after Turkey, which expects delivery before the end of this year.
In Osaka, our military sources add, President Trump told Turkish President Reccep Erdogan that Washington has withdrawn the threat of sanctions on his government for purchasing S-400s from Russia, although it is the first NATO member to buy arms from Moscow.
No comments:
Post a Comment