The Guardian 15 February, 2006
Russia:
missile defence contract with Iran
MOSCOW: Amid the escalating tension as the US takes Iran to the United Nations Security
Council over an alleged nuclear weapons program, Russia said last week that it would still
arm Tehran with missiles that can secure Iran's nuclear facilities from attacks.
"We concluded a contract for the supply of air-defence systems to Iran and there is no reason not
to fulfil it", Mikhail Dmitriyev, the head of Russia's military-technical cooperation agency, told
journalists.
The deal is for up to 30 Tor M-1 surface-to-air missiles and is the largest since Russia withdrew in
2000 from an agreement with the US restricting the supply of military hardware to Iran. The price
tag is about US$700 million.
Dmitriyev rejected media reports that talks were underway for the additional supply of heavier S-
300 air-defence missiles.
Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov has stressed that the Tor is a defensive system and that
the sale does not violate Russia's international obligations.
The weapon is effective against aircraft, cruise missiles and guided bombs and is expected to be
deployed at the Iranian nuclear research centre at Isfahan and the reactor that Russia is
completing for Iran at the southern port of Bushehr.
The Israelis, according to a report in Newsweek magazine, insist that they have the firepower
necessary "to cripple" Tehran's nuclear programme by striking at the "weak" spots. The US has
supplied Israel with more than 100 Blu-109 "bunker buster" earth-penetrating bombs.
Hitting and destroying two or three key facilities would probably be sufficient, Shlomo Brom, a
former Israeli armed forces chief of strategic planning was quoted as saying.
Likud's candidate for Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has made it clear what he will do if
elected: "When I form the new Israeli Government, we'll do what we did in the past against
Saddam's reactor, which gave us 20 years of tranquility."
In 1981, Israeli fighter-bombers destroyed Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor.
Israel also recently purchased some 500 GBU-27 and GBU-28 "bunker buster" satellite guided
bombs that can penetrate 10 metres of concrete.