Report: Russia Halts Transfer of S-300 Batteries to Iran Over its Weapons Transfer to Hezbollah

PM Netanyahu with Russian President Putin in 2012. (Marc Israel Sellem/Flash90)

A Kuwaiti report says that Israeli intelligence has convinced the Russians to stop an anti-aircraft weapons shipment to the Iranians because the Islamic Republic provided weapons to the Lebanon-based terror organization Hezbollah.   

The Kremlin has stopped the transfer of S-300 anti-aircraft batteries to the Islamic Republic after Israeli intelligence shared with it information that Iran had passed on Russian-made weapons to the Hezbollah terror organization in Lebanon, in breach of an agreement between the two countries.

The Kuwaiti Al-Jarida news site, which reported the incident over the weekend, explained that Iran had previously agreed not to provide Hezbollah with Russian arms, but breached this agreement when it provided Hezbollah with SA-22 surface-to-air missiles.

Proof of the transfer was handed over to Russia by Israel, leading President Vladimir Putin to halt the delivery of the S-300 systems to Iran.

According to the report, Russian pilots flying missions over Syria and Lebanon have frequently noted that their radar systems detected advanced surface-to-air missile systems in Hezbollah-controlled regions on the Lebanese-Syrian border.

The pending sale of the advanced defensive batteries from Russia to Iran has been in motion since 2007, and the Kremlin finally announced in April 2015 that it has lifted its ban on the delivery of the S-300 missile system to Iran, in wake of the nuclear deal signed between Tehran and the P5+1 powers.

The Iranians have purchased four units of the anti-aircraft S-300 system, which were removed from service in the Russian military, and have already received all of the supporting systems at the end of 2015, including the radar system.

Israel has warned that the transfer of the sophisticated systems to Iran would “only encourage Iranian aggression in the region” and “further undermine the stability of the Middle East.”

By: United with Israel Staff

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