Global General

Russia has no plan to reconsider relations with Iran

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-06-15 09:47

MOSCOW - Moscow has no plan to reconsider its stance on Iran in order to please the US and NATO, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said Tuesday.

He told local military reporters that Russia doesn't agree that Iran is its enemy.

Related readings:  Dialogue key to solve Iran issue  Iran president says ready to hold nuke talks  Iran to speed up high-grade uranium enrichment

"Iran is our neighbor and partner," he was quoted by the state- run Itar-Tass news agency as saying.

He said the security of Russia's southern frontiers would largely depend on Iran's policy in the Caucasus.

He gave a negative answer to a question from a reporter about whether Russia might sell S-300 missile systems to Iran if the US and NATO fails to resolve the disputes with Moscow over the planned missile defense system.

"Cooperation with Iran in the field of defense technologies is prohibited by a UN Security Council resolution today and we can't violate it," he said, adding that this issue has nothing to do with Russia's missile shield talks with NATO.

In September 2010, Russia banned the delivery of S-300 to Iran under the UN resolution, though the contract was signed with Teheran several years ago. Moscow said it would pay a refund of over $166 million back to Iran.