Iran claims to have smuggled S-300 missile systems

Telegraph

Iran claims to have smuggled anti aircraft missile systems into country

Iran claimed it had smuggled four S-300 anti aircraft missile systems with a 90 mile range in defiance of United Nations sanction that prompted a Russian ban on selling the sophisticated defence system to Tehran.

US and British officials responded with delight when Moscow unexpectedly pulled out of a deal to sell the system to Iran after the UN passed sanctions including an arms embargo on the Islamic state in June. But Tehran now claims it received two S-300s from Belarus and two others from another unspecified source.

If the news is confirmed, the threat posed by the system would be a serious deterent to military planners contemplating a strike on Iran's nuclear programme.

The S-300 is capable of shooting down aircraft, cruise missiles and ballistic missile warheads at ranges of more than 90 miles and at altitudes of about 90,000 feet.

Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian dictator, forged close ties with Tehran, while Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who visited the ex-Soviet nation in 2007, has called the Belarusian leader one of his best friends.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Sunday the United States has drawn up the plan to prevent Iran getting nuclear weapons, but was "extremely concerned" about the consequences of an attack.