“All I can say is we’ve made clear time and again our objections to any sale of the S-300 missile system to Iran. And the Secretary (of State John Kerry) raised it privately with (Russian) Foreign Minister Lavrov as well,” US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner said in his Monday press briefing, the official website of the US Department of State reported.
He made the remarks in response to a question on a recent report saying Russia has started the process of the S-300 delivery to Iran.
On Monday, Mehdi Sanaei told Etemaad Persian-language daily that the process of delivering the missile system has started under a new contract between Tehran and Moscow.
Under the previous contract signed in 2007, Russia was required to provide Iran with at least five S-300 defense system batteries.
In 2010, then-president Dmitry Medvedev cancelled the contract as he came under strong US and Israeli pressure not to go ahead with the sale of the weapons system, but his pretext was that the sale was covered by the fourth round of the UN Security Council sanctions against Iran.
Later, Iran lodged a $4 billion lawsuit at an international court in Geneva against Russia’s arms export agency.
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin decided in April to lift the ban on the S-300 missile system delivery to Iran.
Back in October, Iran’s Defense Ministry announced that Russia is going to deliver the S-300 system under an agreement signed between the two countries, quashing rumors about any change in the delivery process.