Russia sent Iran the first batch of S-300 air defense missile systems that were on hold since 2010 because of United Nation sanctions.
Al Jazeera reported that Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Jaber Ansari said in a recorded statement on state television on Monday that the "first phase of this [delayed] contract has been implemented."
Iran had sued the Russian export agency for $4 billion in international court for not fulfilling an agreement between the two countries that was struck in 2007,
stated Russian state news agency TASS.
"According to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, 'through lengthy and complicated negotiations' Russia succeeded in settling this dispute in court," wrote TASS. "In spring 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin lifted the ban on the S-300 missile system delivery to Iran.
"S-300 [NATO reporting name SA-10 Grumble] is a missile defense system designed to fire surface-to-air missiles at aerial targets such as helicopters, warplanes, and cruise or ballistic missiles," TASS continued.
The British security think tank RUSI stated that the S-300 missile system, first used during the Cold War in 1979, is able to fire on multiple aircraft and missiles from 90 miles away,
according to Fox News.
In March, the
Times of Israel quoted a Kuwaiti newspaper stating that Russian President Vladimir Putin froze the transfer for the S-300 to Iran after Israel provided evidence that Iran gave advanced weapons to Hezbollah.
The Kuwaiti newspaper al-Jarida had quoted an unnamed source "familiar" with Putin, according to the Times of Israel.
Hezbollah is a Shiite Muslim party that has been labeled a terrorism group in the United States and European Union but is supported by Iran,
according to the Council of Foreign Relations website.
Reuters wrote that the renewed transaction has caused concern in Israel, which Iran has said it aims to destroy.
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