Special to WorldTribune.com

Russia said on Nov. 9 that it is moving forward on delivering S-300 missile systems to Iran.

“The deal to supply the S-300 to Iran has not only been signed between the parties but it has already come into force,” Sergei Chemezov, head of Russia’s Rostec arms firm, said at the Dubai Airshow-2015, according to the BBC.

Russia’s sale of the S-300 system to Iran has been opposed by the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia. Israel and the U.S. said that Iran obtaining the S-300 could make it more difficult to launch an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Iran would likely be receiving one of the newer variants of the S-300 which are considered among the world’s most powerful surface-to-air missile systems.

Russia said it could deliver Iran’s first order of the system within 18 months.

Moscow and Teheran initially signed the $800 million deal in 2007, but it was suspended in 2010. Russian President Vladimir Putin lifted the suspension in April after the nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers.

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