MOSCOW, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- A Moscow decision to ban the sale of an air-defense system to Iran was prompted by choices made in Tehran, a Russian official said.
A 2005 contract signed by Moscow and Tehran outlined the terms of the sale of the S-300 missile defense system to Iran. The missile system boasts a range of around 100 miles and can engage several targets at once.
In response to sanctions passed by the U.N. Security Council in June, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed an executive order last week prohibiting the sale of military equipment to Iran.
Konstantin Kosachyov, an international affairs official at the Kremlin, said Iran's foreign policies were to blame for Medvedev's decision, Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti reports.
"The ban is not Russia's choice. It is the choice of Iran," he said.
The sanctions on Iran allow for searches of banned goods in cargo to or from Iran and increases the number of individuals and companies subject to travel bans and an asset freeze.
Russia, a veto-wielding member of the Security Council, voted in favor of the measure.
Iranian defense officials, the Russian report said, complained the ban was a sign that Moscow couldn't be trusted.
