Special to WorldTribune.com

MOSCOW — Russia has warned of renewed arms sales to Iran.

A leading Russian legislator said the Kremlin could renew major weapons deals with Iran if the United States attacks Syria. Duma Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Alexei Pushkov said Moscow has not made such a decision.

“If the party of war wins out in the United States and the efforts by Syria’s enemies bring results, I find it absolutely justified for Russia to consider more serious measures, including expanding supplies of defensive weapons to Iran,” Pushkin said.

Western diplomats said Pushkin was believed to speak for President Vladimir Putin. The chairman’s warning was issued on Sept. 11 during a parliamentary debate on Syria, which included calls for the renewal of Russian weapons to Iran.

Pushkin and other parliamentary leaders urged Washington to accept a Russian proposal to end any U.S. threat to Syria. The proposal included Syrian agreement to abandon chemical weapons.

The Duma rejected a proposal by Pushkov’s deputy, Leonid Kalashnikov,
for renewed arms sales to Teheran. But Pushkin said such a move could again
come to a vote should Washington order air strikes on the regime of Syrian
President Bashar Assad.

Russian arms sales to Iran were said to have dropped significantly after
the Kremlin canceled the sale of the S-300PMU1 in 2010. Iran has since sued
Moscow for $4 billion in compensation.

On Sept. 11, the Russian business daily Kommersant said Putin decided to
sell a shorter-range variant of the S-300, called Antei-2500. The Kremlin
refused to confirm the report, but said Putin would discuss military
cooperation with Teheran during the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization meeting on Sept. 13 in Kyrgyzstan.

“Vladimir Putin made two fundamental decisions on Iran,” Kommerstant
said. “The first is intended to resolve the conflict with Teheran over air
defense systems. Russia will supply Iran with five battalions of Antei-2500,
the modified export version of the S-300V. A key condition of
the transaction: Teheran should withdraw the $4 billion case against
Rosoboronexport for the failure of the previous contract.”

  Alexei Pushkov, Antei-2500, Putin’s threat: Comrade warns Syria strikes could trigger weapon shipments to Iran, Rosoboronexport, S-300, Vladimir Putin