TEHRAN – Mehdi Sanaei, the Iranian ambassador to Moscow, said on Monday that the procedure for delivering the S300 missile system to Iran by Russia has been started.

Sanaei said the move to deliver the missile system was made after a policy revision by the Kremlin.

Moscow and Tehran signed an $800-million deal for the delivery of five S-300 missile systems in 2007. In 2011, Iran sued Russia in the Geneva Arbitration Court after Moscow suspended the contract in 2010, citing a UN Security Council resolution that placed an arms embargo on Tehran.

Russian President Vladimir Putin lifted the S-300 delivery ban in April 2015, shortly after the 5+1 group of international negotiators and Iran reached a framework nuclear agreement to remove all economic sanctions against Tehran in exchange for its pledge to ensure that all nuclear research in the country will be for peaceful purposes.

NA/PA