Why Russia is doing this is beyond me. But what is clear is that the absence of US power and influence in the region leaves a void that leaders like Putin are very happy to fill:
JERUSALEM POST – Talks between Russia and Iran over the sale of sophisticated S-300 surface-to-air missiles are progressing, a top Iranian official told state media on Monday.
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Tehran’s deputy foreign minister for Arab and African affairs, traveled to Moscow on Monday for a meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, Press TV reported.
During a joint news conference, Amir-Abdollahian said that the S-300 negotiations “have been successful.”
“The negotiations on the subject have ended in success,” Abdollahian explained and noted personally, “I estimate that the S-300 delivery will take place in quite a short time.”
Last month, Russian media quoted a Kremlin official as saying that supplying Iran with Russian S-300 missile defense systems is not a matter of the nearest future.
“It is more important that a political and legal decision, which opens up such a possibility, is taken,” Sergei Ryabkov, a deputy foreign minister, said according to TASS.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in a radio interview with Sputnik, tried to downplay the impact of the sale of the S-300 to Iran.
“The S-300 cannot be used for protection against nuclear weapons,” Lavrov said, adding that “the S-300 is only good for protection against non-strategic missiles, against air strikes.”
But he then clarified that, with the S-300, “those who want to deliver a strike at Iran will have to think at least twice before doing it.”
Lavrov said his country has a right to sell the S-300, adding that Iran needs the anti-missile system for self-defense.