The previous contract for the delivery of five S-300 divisions was signed in 2007 / S. Porter / Vedomosti

Iran's Ambassador to Russia Mehdi Sanaei said that Moscow and Tehran had signed a new contract for the delivery of S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems, the Iranian news agency Tasnim reports. According to him, the transfer of the S-300s has already begun.

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"Iran and Russia have signed a new contract, and the procedure for the transfer of the S-300s has begun," he said.

The new contract was signed on November 9. After it was signed, Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan said that Iran expected to receive Russian anti-aircraft missile systems before March 20, 2016, when the year ends according to the Iranian calendar. "The country will receive Russian S-300 surface-to-air systems at the end of the year," he said (quoted by TASS ).

According to Dehgan, Iran buys as many S-300 air defense systems as the country needs. Iranian servicemen undergo training in Russia on how to operate the anti-aircraft missile systems.

On November 9, Rostec CEO Sergei Chemezov announced that a new contract for the supply of S-300 to Iran was coming into effect. In his opinion, after the first part of the contract is fulfilled, Iran will drop its claims regarding the supply of S-300. The parties did not officially name the modification of the SAM systems being supplied. However, TASS reported that Iran would presumably be supplied with S-300PMU-2. According to an Interfax source, this is not about the S-300PMU SAM, since the system has been discontinued, but about the modified S-300V4 SAM system (Antey-2500).

The previous contract for the delivery of five S-300 divisions was signed in 2007. Three years later (in the fall of 2010), Dmitry Medvedev, then president of Russia, signed a decree prohibiting the delivery of battle tanks, armored vehicles, large-caliber artillery systems, combat aircraft, helicopters, warships, missiles or missile systems, and S-300 air defense systems to Iran. The contract was valued at more than $800 million. It was cancelled, and Moscow returned the advance payment to Tehran.

Commenting on Russia's refusal to supply the S-300, former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on national television that Russia had sold its soul to the devil. Tehran refused to recognize the contract as annulled, threatening the Russian side with fines and compensation for breaking the deal.

In September 2013, Iran filed a lawsuit against Russia in the International Court of Arbitration in Geneva, demanding $4 billion for the collapse of the deal.

In the spring of 2015, the international community noted significant progress in resolving the nuclear issue. On April 13, Russia lifted the ban on deliveries of S-300s to Tehran. At this point, Iran has not yet withdrawn its lawsuit from the Geneva court.

Russia has begun supplying S-300 to Iran