Iran Denies Requesting For Russian S-400 Missile Systems

Abbas Mousavi, official spokesperson for Iranian Foreign Ministry denied that the country had requested to buy Russian S-400 missile defense systems, on Monday.

"We have not requested Russia to sell S-400. We don't currently feel that we need these defense systems," Mousavi said, as quoted by Fars news agency.

Last week, Bloomberg cited a senior Russian official saying that Moscow had rejected Tehran’s request of buying S-400s.

"The request was rebuffed by President Vladimir Putin, who was concerned that the sale would stoke more tension in the Middle East," the officials were quoted as saying by Bloomberg.

“Any real or imaginary strengthening of Iran can lead to escalation — if Russia really refused Iran such a request, it would mean that Russia wants to keep working on relations with Saudi Arabia, Israel and keep a chance for negotiations with Trump,” Ruslan Pukhov, head of the Center of Analysis of Strategies and Technologies in Moscow, said.