Russian President Vladimir Putin has frozen missiles bound for Iran amid Israeli protest of the sale, the Kuwaiti paper Al-Jarida reports.
According to the report, an order of S-300 heavy surface-to-air missiles purchased by Iran has been put on hold by the Russian leader following talks with Israeli officials.
Israel criticized the sale, claiming that at least some of the S-300 missiles would likely fall into the hands of the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon. The presence of long-range anti-aircraft missiles along Israel’s border would threaten both military and civilian flights inside Israel.
According to Al Jarida, Russia halted the shipment of the missiles after Israel provided evidence that other surface-to-air missiles sold by Russia to Iran had ended up in Hezbollah’s hands.
Russian pilots operating in the area confirmed Israel’s claims, positively identifying SA-22 missile batteries in Hezbollah-controlled territory in Lebanon.
Since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, military ties between Russia, Syria, and Iran have tightened, with increased sales of advanced weapons and even direct intervention by Russian forces in the area.
With the release of billions of dollars in frozen assets and the end of economic sanctions, Iran has placed large orders for Russian-made heavy weaponry, including missiles, warplanes, submarines, and tanks.
@ bernard ross:
F-35 is a piece of crap totally unsuited for Israel and I believe Israel was pressured or even blackmailed into their acquisition. It makes Israel a total slave to American whims and diktats and the plane is crap, too expensive $ 200 million per plane including ground support since it’s a total computerized behemoth it can’t be used in combat unless American technicians update data before each intended action and for that Israel has to fly to Greece I think for servicing and updated computer banks and links, Technically in all metrics the F-15 is better except for stealth but there is an F-15 that almost is as good stealth wise for a fraction of the cost and Israel can insert her own avionics into them as they can’t with the F-35… Better to buy from Russia co produce with India and or build our own using the Lavie as an initial already developed platform and upgrade it to conform with current technologies… I think it still would be more cost effective over the F-35 and better….
Interesting article, also the comments section has an interesting debate. Shmuel might have some thoughts on the comments.