1938 Alert. "Iran Negotiating Purchase of Tur-M1 Missile System from Russia," from Fars News Agency (thanks to Davsmi):
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iran's Defense Minister Brigadier General Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said that Tehran has entered negotiations with Moscow for the purchase of Russia's Tur-M1 Missile system. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting here on Wednesday, the General noted the fourth meeting of Iran-Russia defense commission, and said, "During the meeting, the Iranian side entered negotiations with the high-ranking Russian delegation in different areas, and the two sides reached agreements on a number of issues, including a discussion about Tur-M1 missile system."Earlier today, the defense minister also said that Tehran had signed a contract with Russia Tuesday night on the purchase and deployment in Iran of another advanced missile system called S-300.
Najjar dismissed any link between the said contract and the recent report by 16 US intelligence bodies which confirmed the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear activities, adding that the date of S-300 delivery would be revealed to public later in future.
S-300 is considered as among the most advanced anti-missile systems in the world capable of targeting various types of missiles and warplanes at different altitudes. Despite Tour-M which can identify and trace targets merely at low altitudes, S-300 enjoys the required capabilities to trace and destroy targets at low and high altitudes, granting Iran air superiority over enemy missiles and aircrafts.
I think Russia has decided to back the winning horse in the region. And what are we going to do about it? Condi?
The powers that be will continue to misunderstand the situation until such time as it becomes untenable. Then we'll do something stupid, like send them boat-loads of aid.
This is not going to be a fun decade or two.
Putin's been cozy with Iran anyway, but I think he is going to ratchet things up as a response to the US putting a missile shield in Poland or wherever, right in Putin's back yard.
There's wars and rumors of wars, but most of them are proxy wars...
I heard a great Russian joke about Putin.
Seems Putin calls on the ghost of Stalin for advice about the recent elections.
Stalin told him to shoot all the democrats and paint the Kremlin blue.
Putin asks, Paint the Kremlin blue?
Stalin says, I knew that first part wouldn't bother you.
LOL
I would not be one to underestimate a foe, but Russian weapons? Haven't Epypt, Syria, Libia, etc lead a long history of turning Russian "weapons" into smoldering scrap metal, with a little help from the IDF?? Granted, the Iranians are probably not as incompetent as their Arab neighbors, but it's hard to believe that Russian weapons are a quality product...
"Granted, the Iranians are probably not as incompetent as their Arab neighbors, but it's hard to believe that Russian weapons are a quality product..."
Posted by: BunrattyBill
To some extent you answered your own question. The effectiveness of a weapon depends largely on the effectiveness of the training of the one using it. Both the Germans and the Japanese learned the quality of Russian weapons, as did the Americans in Korea and Vietnam. The AK-47 is still the standard automatic weapon of the world, 65 years after its birth as the Kalishnikov assault rifle. Russian weapons in general have a reputation for ruggedness and ease of use: in the early days in Vietnam, many American troops preferred to use the dependable AK-47, taken from captured or killed Viet Cong, rather than the M-16, which was prone to jamming.
Let Iran purchase Russia's supposed state of the art defense system. We saw how well it worked for Syria a few months back when Israeli jets flew across Syria and back undetected when they destroyed a nuke storage facility. Buy it all up, Eeeee-Ron! Buy it all up.
Yeah Russia is laughing all the way to the bank on this one. Perhaps Russia would be a better friend if we would quit screwing the Serbs. It really is in both of our interests to provide a united front against common enemies.
I've read reports which suggest the Russians have already supplied the Iranians with S-300s, the "Patriotruski".
Hard to believe anyone want's GWB's job.
Never trust the Russians. They are semi-Western at best, do not understand freedom, continue to refuse to address their own pathologies, think all life is a con game and therefore look upon American and Anglo-Saxon idealism as a sham, need a fall guy (America will do) so they don't have to deal with their own authoritarianism and corruption at home and don't give a damn about the survival of Israel and any freedom that may exist in the Middle East.
Yes, yes, I know the Balkan mess in the 1990s (four wars in eight years), which America intervened in come 1999 (which put a stop to the unremitting slaughter that had gone on since 1991), is a continuing sore for Serbs and Russians, but I am certain had it not occurred (and I don't support an independent Kosovo----America has this one wrong) Russia would have found a whole host of other reasons under Putin to castigate America.
And NATO? It is the greatest alliance in the history of free nations. So many Eastern European nations relish and respect it, among them Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Lithuania, Estonia and even Orthodox nations like Romania and Bulgaria (so much for the Orthodox/Roman Catholic split), yet the Russians see it as a threat. I contend this speaks volumes about Russia herself.
In any case, it doesn't surprise me one bit that Russia is selling very sophisticated anti-missile defense technology to the Iranians. Not one damn bit. Russia is on the wrong side of history again. What else is new?
This is great news for the F-22 program.
/Always looking for a silver lining.