MOSCOW, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- The Russian Foreign Ministry Friday defended the recent sale of its state-of-the-art Tor M1 air defense system to Iran.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said the sale of 29 Tor-M1 air defense missile systems to Iran under a 2005 contract had not broken any United Nations sanctions or any other of Russia's international commitments, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.
"Military-technical cooperation between Russia and Iran is governed by international law and bilateral agreements," Kamynin said.
The U.N. Security Council Dec. 23 passed a resolution calling on its members states not to aid Iran's nuclear program. However, Russia, which is also constructing Iran's ambitious nuclear reactor complex at Bushehr, used its veto power as one of the five permanent members of the Security Council to ensure that its major commercial deals that had already been made with Iran would not be affected. Earlier this month, Moscow announced that its companies had completed delivery of the Tor-M1 systems that had been ordered by the Iranians.
"The Tor-M1, developed by the Russian company Almaz-Antei, is a high-precision missile system designed to destroy aircraft, manned or unmanned, and cruise missiles flying at an altitude of up to 10 kilometers (6 miles). Each system is equipped with 8 short-range missiles, associating radars, fire control systems and a battery command post," RIA Novosti said.
