S-300 missile system being shipped to Iran

Russia is shipping S-300 air defence missile systems to Iran, the country's foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari said on Monday.

"The agreement for the delivery of S-300 systems has been finalised over the past months and they are being shipped to Iran," Ansari said.

Iran and Russia have diversified their cooperation, and both the countries have "remarkable" political and defence cooperation, Xinhua quoted Ansari as syaing.

Moscow and Teheran signed a $800-million contract in 2007 to supply Iran with five S-300 systems.

In September 2010, then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev cancelled the contract in line with a resolution of the UN Security Council, which banned the supply of conventional weapons to Iran.

Iran, in response, submitted a $4 billion claim against Russia to an international arbitration court in Geneva.

In early April last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to lift the ban on sales of S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems after Iran and six world powers, including Russia, reached a framework accord on parameters of Iran's controversial nuclear programme.

Iran withdrew the lawsuit against Russia after the latter agreed to supply the S-300 missile systems.