Despite Facing $4 Bn Lawsuit, Russia Scraps Iran-Bound S-300 Missiles

The S-300 advanced air defense missile systems that Russia refused to deliver to Iran have now been completely dismantled and scrapped.

“The equipment that was to have been delivered to Iran is no more,” Almaz-Antey Corporation’s CEO Vladislav Menshchikov said. “We have dismantled it completely. Some elements, which could be used, have been used. Some have been scrapped.”

Every contract is made for a particular client and cannot be adjusted to the requirements of another, he said.

Russia signed a deal in 2007 to provide Iran four S-300 batteries. Russia annulled the contract in 2010 due to concerns over its nuclear program. Iran filed a $4 billion lawsuit for compensation over the failed deal, which is pending review in an international arbitration court in Geneva.

Russian daily Vedomosti said in June, citing undisclosed Russian arms industry sources, that Russia had offered to provide Iran with Antei-2500 air defense systems, but the offer was never officially confirmed.

Anatoly Isaikin, the head of Russia’s state-run arms export monopoly Rosoboronexport said in mid-August his agency had no plans to provide Iran with replacements for the S-300 missile defense systems that Russia had refused to deliver.

S-300 is a family of air defense missile systems capable of engaging aerial targets from helicopters to cruise and ballistic missiles. 

Israel, in particular, lobbied hard against the S-300 deal, according to Israeli media, over concerns that any Israeli air attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities would be made far more dangerous if Tehran operated the system.