News
Iran places anti-missile system at former enrichment plant
Iran has deployed the advanced S-300 missile defence system around the former nuclear plant at Fordow, where enrichment activities were thought to have ceased.
Iranian television showed pictures of a carrier truck for the Russian-made S-300 system at Fordow, raising its missile launchers towards the sky. General Farzad Esmaili, commander of Iran’s air defences said that protecting the country’s nuclear facilities was crucial “in all circumstances”. The footage came just hours after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei told air force commanders that “continued opposition and hype on the S-300 or the Fordow site are examples of the viciousness of the enemy”.
Ending uranium enrichment operations at Fordow was one of the stipulations of the nuclear agreement brokered last year between Iran and the P5+1 powers (US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany). Enrichment was scheduled to end at Fordow in January, with the continuation of a small number of centrifuges for civilian research purposes. Since the nuclear agreement was finalised, Iran has carried out a number of conventional ballistic missile tests, in violation of United Nations’s Security Council resolutions.
The installation of the S-300 anti-missile system, which is designed to protect against air strikes, will alarm those who questioned last year’s deal and Iran’s sincerity in adhering to it. Israel raised concerns with Moscow over the sale of the S-300 system to Iran over fears that it could provide protection for continued enrichment.
US State Department spokesman John Kirby said: “We’ve seen the reports of this deployment. Obviously, that’s of concern to us.” He added that Washington has “long objected” to the sale of the S-300 system to Iran.
The Fordow plant’s existence was only disclosed by Tehran in 2009 after learning that Western intelligence services had uncovered it. The Fordow site is built approximately 300ft below a mountain around 60 miles from Tehran. Its deep underground location is thought to be designed to protect the site from potential air strikes.