Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar met his Russian counterpart Anatoly Serdyukov on Tuesday in a bid to persuade Moscow into selling the Islamic Republic the state-of-the-art S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems.
Russia's Kommersant newspaper reported that the two countries had already signed an $800 million deal for five of the systems, but Moscow had not yet decided whether to ratify the sale.
"I hope this visit will lead to the further development of relations between our two countries in all areas, including in the sphere of military cooperation," Najjar was quoted as saying by the Iranian Embassy in Moscow, where he met Serdyukov.
Israel and the United States fear that were Iran to possess S-300 missiles, it would use them to protect its first nuclear power plant, now under construction at Bushehr by Russian contractors. That would make any potential military strike on the plant much more difficult.
Russia's state arms export agency said in December that it was supplying Iran with defensive weapons, including surface-to-air missiles, but did not say whether they included the sophisticated long-range S-300 missiles.
The S-300 is one of the most advanced multi-target anti-aircraft missile systems in the world, and has a reported ability to track up to 100 targets simultaneously while engaging up to 12.
The S-300 system was first deployed by the USSR in 1979 and was designed to defend large industrial and administrative facilities and military bases, and to control airspace against enemy aircraft.
It has a range of about 200 km. and can hit targets at altitudes of 27,000 meters. Iran already has TOR-M1 surface-to-air missiles from Russia.
Topic: Teheran presses Moscow to sell S-300 (Read 560 times)