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Netanyahu calls Putin to express dismay over missile sale to Iran
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by telephone with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin yesterday to convey his disappointment over Moscow’s decision to sell Iran an advanced anti-aircraft missile system.
Russia announced earlier this week that it had lifted a freeze on the sale of the S-300 system, in place since 2010 following international concerns over the Tehran regime and subsequent global sanctions. The sale represents not only a significant upgrade to Iran’s air defence system, but a blow to current international restrictions on Tehran. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov commented, “We see no need to continue” withholding the advanced weaponry “given progress in talks on Iran’s nuclear program.”
Netanyahu and Putin spoke yesterday for around an hour and a statement from Netanyahu’s office said that he “expressed Israel’s dismay at the decision” and “told Putin that Russia’s decision will only make Iran more aggressive in the region and threaten security in the Middle East.” However, a Kremlin statement said that, “Vladimir Putin explained the rationale for the decision in the current context” and emphasised that the “S-300 have a purely defensive significance and pose no threat to Israel.” The head of Russia’s security council, Nikolai Patrushev, said that delivery of the S-300 system to Iran would take “at least six months.”
Later yesterday, Netanyahu emphasised that the Russian arms sale to Tehran was a direct result of the nascent nuclear agreement taking shape between Iran and the P5+1 powers (US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany). He commented, “After this weapons deal, is there anyone that still seriously claims that this [nuclear] agreement with Iran will make the Middle East safer?”
It was a point also echoed by Israel’s Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon, who yesterday commented “The S-300 deal we are hearing about now … is a direct result of the framework agreements reached at Lausanne. This is something we warned about before the details were ironed out.” He predicted that Iran will continue “arming itself and others.”