TEHRAN - Iran will manufacture air defense systems similar to the Russian S-300 missile system in the near future, Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi told the Mehr News Agency on Saturday.

Russia signed a deal to deliver five batteries of S-300PMU-1 air defense systems to Iran in 2007 but cancelled the sale in September 2010, claiming the systems, along with a number of other weapons, were covered by the fourth round of UN Security Council sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program.
Iran says Russia's cancellation of the delivery of the S-300 system is a violation of the contract signed by the two countries.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Vahidi said that Iran is completing the legal procedures to seek compensation from Russia over the violation of the S-300 missile contract.
The Iranian parliament has also called for efforts to be made to seek compensation from Russia.
Earlier, Vahidi had denied rumors that Iran planned to purchase the S-300 air defense missile systems from China or Venezuela.
On June 9, the United Nations Security Council passed a new resolution imposing sanctions on Iran over the allegation that Tehran's nuclear program may have been clandestinely diverted to military applications.
However, the International Atomic Energy Agency has conducted numerous inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence showing that Iran's civilian nuclear program has been diverted to nuclear weapons production
The S-300 system, which can track targets and fire at aircraft 120 kilometers (75 miles) away, features high jamming immunity and is able to simultaneously engage up to 100 targets