TEHRAN, July 24 (RIA Novosti) – Iran’s legal claim over Russia’s scrapping of a 2007 contract for five S-300 surface-to-air missile systems is a “standard procedure” stipulated by the contract, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.
Iran’s Defense Ministry and The Aerospace Industries Organization, an Iranian state company, filed a $4-billion lawsuit against Russia’s state arms corporation Rosoboronexport in the International Arbitration Court in Geneva on April 13, 2011.
Russia said the termination of the contract was in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1929, which bans supplying Iran with conventional weapons, including missiles and missile systems, tanks, attack helicopters, warplanes and ships.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mekhmanparast told RIA Novosti that the contract in dispute was a “standard treaty between countries.”
“Such treaties stipulate certain terms and conditions, so this is an ordinary procedure in such a case. We have no problems with Russia on this issue,” he said.
The statement came days after Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said a legal action was “not the best method to resolve this situation.”
Iran is looking to acquire highly advanced air-defense systems, like S-300, in order to deter a potential attack from Israel or the United States on its nuclear facilities, which both nations claim are involved in nuclear weapons development. Iran denies developing atomic weapons. Iran has previously acquired the Russian Tor-M1 short-range air-defense missile system.