Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier-General, Hossein Dehqan, in response to a question by a reporter said that Iran has not demanded S-400 air defense systems from Russia.
Earlier, it was reported that after Russia had launched a military operation in Syria, the foreign demand for S-300 and S-400 missile systems had greatly increased.
Referring to the serious security situation in the region, Dehqan said that the Americans and the Israelis, along with Saudi Arabia were trying to eradicate the resistance movement.
Last week, Dehqan said that the Russian S-300 air defense system had been delivered to the country’s air defense forces.
In April, Iranian military officials said that Tehran had purchased a batch of S-300 air defense systems. Local media reported at the time that Iran had displayed the Russian-made S-300 air defense systems during the annual military parade devoted to Army Day on April 17.
The $900-million Moscow-Tehran contract to deliver five Russian S-300 systems to Iran was signed in 2007. It was suspended after the adoption of UN Security Council sanctions on Iran in mid-2010.
In April 2015, Russia resumed talks on the S-300 deliveries following a framework agreement on the landmark deal ensuring the peaceful nature of Tehran’s nuclear program.
Russia and Iran are expected to fully implement the S-300 contract in 2016, according to Iranian defense officials.
Meanwhile, the Indian Air Force plans to introduce Russian S-400 Triumf Missile System to its military arsenal next year. The cost of the deal has not been divulged by India but according to other sources, India is likely to pay approximately USD 6 billion for five S400 units.
Expressing enthusiasm over the performance of the S-400 Triumf Missile System, Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar said in Parliament last week that the S-400 has better performance parameters compared to the S-300 in many respects, such as maximum and minimum target engagement range, minimum target engagement altitude, and maximum speed of target engaged.
Parrikar also said that the S-400 is better in terms of the number of targets and maximum radar cross-section of targets engaged simultaneously as compared to the S-300. It also takes less deployment time as compared to the S-300.
