Salam all,
Just finished my sixth vlog on Youtube called "Can Iran Still Trust Russia?" which deals with the purchase of the S-300 system and Russia's attitude vis-a-vis Iran. Let me know what you think.
Watch it here:
More detailed description of the video:
After nine years, Russia delivered Almaz-Antey's S300 missile to Iran in April, 2016. But why the delay? Find out here.
The political détente between Iran and Russia began in 1989. In that year, Russian Foreign Minister Shevardnadze met Ayatollah Khomeini after the Soviet pullout in Afghanistan. A few months later, president Rafsanjani met with Mikhail Gorbachev to discuss cooperation on the use of peaceful atomic energy. These series of meetings spawned atomic cooperation agreements to be signed in 1992. The Soviet Union's weakness and its ultimate dissolution accelerated calls within Russia to revive Russia's nuclear industry abroad.
From the mid-2000s, both countries had seen relations deteriorate. In Iran, the deregulation of the Khatami administration shifted towards an autarky-minded Ahmadinejad government insisting on Iran autonomously developing a full nuclear cycle.
Russia's buildup after the Soviet collapse left it desperate to maintain Iran as a purchasing market. The Russians provided Iran with light-water nuclear reactors (LWRS) in 1992, the Bushehr plant was reconstructed through a $1 billion contract in 1995 and other side agreements included the negotiated delivery of a gas-centrifuge uranium enrichment facility. With the prospects of an increasingly independent Iran ahead and rapprochement with Washington, Russia decided to punish the Iranians through various international mechanisms.
The delay of the S300 therefore serves as a case study illuminating the selfish economic interests of two states on the one hand, and the indifference by Russia to enhance regional security on the other.