Russia Plans to Sell Missile System to Iran
Written by www.daily.pk
Sunday, 23 November 2008 19:29
MI6 has warned that Russia is poised to sell its own sophisticated S-300 missile defence system to Iran if the European Union and Washington push for Georgia and Ukraine to have NATO membership.
The revelation came hours after EU heads had met at a Brussels conference to discuss how best to handle the ever-mounting tensions with Moscow.
The Secret Intelligence Service discovered Moscow’s plans after monitoring visits to Tehran last month by a team of Russian military scientists who had helped to create the S-300 system.
Dan Goure, a senior Pentagon arms adviser on the system, described it as “one that surely scares every Western air force”.
It can track up to 100 targets at once and destroy aircraft at a range of 75 miles. Operational, it could dramatically affect any attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
However, MI6 analysts believe the Moscow offer to provide the system to Iran is to create a foreign policy confrontation to test the mettle of a new US president.
It could also prove a test of resolve for Britain’s Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, who has been leading the EC drive to confront Moscow over militants in the Caucasus region.
“Using the S-300 is a powerful bargaining move that has been clearly orchestrated by Vladimir Putin. He sees the steady encroachment of NATO into the former Soviet bloc and the recent granting of independence to the ex-Serbian province of Kosovo as a threat”, said an MI6 analyst.
Last week MI6 agents confirmed that some of the basic components of the S-300 system had been transferred to its close ally, Belarus, ready for a possible transfer to Tehran.
The news has increased concern in Israel and Ehud Olmert, the country’s outgoing prime minister, has told Britain’s own embattled prime minister, Gordon Brown, that Israel intends to continue withholding military assistance to Georgia in an effort to placate Russia.
But an MI6 report from its agents in Iran says that the Iran government believes Moscow has agreed to supply the S-300. Dan Goure, the Pentagon analyst, added: “If the deal went through, it would be a game changer for tackling Iran. And it could be the catalyst which would trigger Israel to launch a pre-emptive attack on the nuclear sites”.
But in London, Ministry of Defence analysts argue that it would take a year for the S-300 to become operational once a site has been found for it in Iran.
An indication that the site could be near the Syrian border with Iran has emerged at a meeting in Moscow between Putin and Bashr al Asad, the Syrian president, to “discuss military deals”. One proposal is that the S-300 would provide Syria with a shield against an Israeli attack.
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