[Middle East Newsline] Moscow has been negotiating to sell Iran a range of anti-aircraft systems to protect its nuclear facilities, Russian diplomatic and industry sources said. "Russia has already installed and manned SAM systems around [the] Bushehr [nuclear reactor]," a diplomatic source said. "The current talks regard an air defense umbrella that would protect all strategic sites in Iran." In November 2005, Russia reached agreement for the sale of 29 TOR-M1 short-range anti-aircraft systems to Iran in a deal valued at more than $700 million. Iran has also sought the strategic S-300PMU SAM system, capable of detecting and intercepting enemy aircraft at a distance of 300 km.
2006-09-26 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive