Russia should honour a contract to sell a missile defence system to Iran and not bend to outside pressure, the Islamic Republic"s defence minister said in remarks published on Thursday, Reuters reported. Russia, which is under Western pressure to distance itself from Iran, has not followed through on proposals to supply high-grade S-300 air defence missiles. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised Russia last month for not providing the arms to Iran, which is at odds with the West over its nuclear and missile programmes. Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi said Iran had a contract with Russia to buy the missile system. Moscow "should honour the contract ... of course we are hopeful the issue will be resolved as soon as possible," Vahidi said. An influential Iranian parliamentarian, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, earlier this week also said Russia should keep its word on selling the missile system to Iran. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said last month "there have been no such deliveries to date". The truck-mounted S-300PMU1, known in the West as the SA-20, can shoot down cruise missiles and aircraft. It can fire at targets up to 150 km (90 miles) away and travel at more than two km per second. -- SPA
