Russia yesterday unblocked sales to Iran of one of the world’s most advanced air-defence systems. It is a move that will irk the US and other world powers involved in talks to limit Tehran’s nuclear programme.

President Vladimir Putin cancelled a decree under which he had banned delivery of the S-300 system to Iran in 2009, a restriction imposed under diplomatic pressure from the US and Israel. His decision comes at a sensitive point in negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme, with the White House attempting to sell this month’s framework deal to a sceptical US Congress.

Opponents of the agreement – which imposes conditions on Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for the relieving of sanctions – see any resumption of Russian arms sales as evidence of Iran winning space to hone its capabilities and better protect its nuclear facilities.

Yuval Steinitz, the Israeli intelligence minister, said the green light for S-300 sales was “a direct result of the legitimisation that Iran is receiving from the nuclear deal” this month, of which Israel’s government has been critical.

The US and Israel have long objected to the sale of the S-300s to Iran, saying they would destabilise military balance in the region. Since 2006, successive US presidents have raised the issue with Mr Putin.

Primarily political decision

“The fact that he lifted the decree does not mean that the missiles will actually be sold. It is mainly a bargaining chip versus Israel and the US,” said Ruslan Pukhov, an independent Russian defence analyst. Mr Putin would “not allow” deliveries to go ahead for now, he added, because this would endanger Russia’s engagement with Israel.

The S-300 system would greatly bolster Iran’s ability to defend its airspace up to 300km beyond its border, a range Israel fears would endanger its military and civilian aircraft. Israeli officials privately warned the US that delivery of S-300s to Iran could “precipitate action”, according to leaked US diplomatic cables from 2009.

Moscow defended its decision as a way to encourage a final nuclear deal with Tehran. Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow’s embargo on the missile deliveries had been voluntary to begin with, as UN sanctions adopted in June 2010 did not require such a ban.

“It was done in good faith for the sake of stimulating progress in the negotiations,” he said. “We believe that at this stage the need for this kind of embargo, and for a separate voluntary Russian embargo, has completely disappeared.”

– Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2015