Iran's defense minister due in Russia for military talks
Sun Feb 14, 2016
Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan is to visit Russia to discuss ways to boost defense and military cooperation between the two countries.
Dehqan will travel to Moscow on Monday at the official invitation of Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu and will hold talks with senior political and defense officials.
The two sides are scheduled to discuss the latest mutual, regional and international developments.
Enhanced defense, military and technical cooperation between Tehran and Moscow will be among main objectives of the Iranian minister’s visit.
Dehqan's trip to Moscow comes in response to a previous visit to the Islamic Republic by his Russian counterpart.
During Shoigu’s visit to Tehran in January 2015, the Iranian and Russian defense ministers signed an agreement to improve cooperation in defense and military arenas.
The deal focused on the need for strengthening and promoting the level of bilateral military and defense cooperation with regard to the common interests of Tehran and Moscow.
Iran and Russia signed an agreement on the delivery of the S-300 missile system to Tehran, which was banned by Moscow back in 2010 under the pretext that the deal was covered by the fourth round of the UN Security Council sanctions, which barred hi-tech weapons sales to the Islamic Republic.
In April 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a presidential decree paving the way for the long-overdue delivery of the missile defense system to Iran after Iran and the P5+1 group of countries - the United States, France, Britain, China and Russia plus Germany - reached a mutual understanding on Tehran’s nuclear program in the Swiss city of Lausanne.
On February 10, the Iranian defense chief said the country will take delivery of the first batch of Russian-made S-300 surface-to-air missile defense system in the first quarter of 2016. Dehqan added that the Islamic Republic will receive the second batch by the first half of 2017.
