MOSCOW, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Moscow decided against supplying Iran with the long-range S-300 missile system because of U.N. Security Council sanctions, a general said Wednesday.
Russia and Iran signed a contract in 2005 for the sale of the S-300 missile defense system. The system, NATO codename SA-12 Giant, can engage multiple targets simultaneously and shoot down aircraft and missiles at a range of around 100 miles.
Nikolai Makarov, the chief of the general staff of the Russian military, told Russian news agency ITAR-Tass on Wednesday that Moscow decided against the sale because of sanctions imposed by the Security Council.
"A decision had been taken not to supply S-300 to Iran, they undoubtedly fall under the sanctions," he said. "The authorities decided to suspend the process of supplies and we are fulfilling this instruction."
The Security Council in June authorized new sanctions on Iran as punishment for a controversial nuclear program.
Stuart Levey, a U.S. Treasury Department official overseeing the Iranian sanctions effort in Washington, said international pressure was isolating Tehran.
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.
