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This nuke deal with Iran had better work. Because the Kremlin is lifting a ban on selling a powerful air defense system to Iran that would render an air strike on Tehran’s nuclear weapons facilities nearly impossible. Called the Almaz-Antei S-300PMU-1—known as the SA-20 Gargoyle in NATO parlance--the delivery of the new weapon would effectively force the U.S. to rely on its small fleet of stealth aircraft to strike targets inside Iran in case the Mullahs make a dash for the Bomb. But even those aircraft might have a difficult time. According to a report from Russian state media, Russian president Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday that would allow the sale of the fearsome S-300 air defense system to Iran.
The U.S. government has lobbied Russia hard for many years to prevent the sale of the S-300 to Iran. In 2010, convincing Putin to suspend the sale of the S-300 to Iran was heralded as a major foreign policy coup by the Obama administration. In many ways, it was one of the central achievements of the so-called “reset” in relations with Moscow, said Heather Conley, a Russia expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Since then, of course, relations with Russia have cooled to nearly Cold War levels of hostility. Making life difficult for American policy makers is once again a Kremlin priority. “Mr. Putin’s policies are not designed to assist the West or to make our jobs and ability to affect policy much more difficult,” Conley said. “It’s also reminder to Washington and other Western capitals that they have some cards to play here.”
Another factor that might be motivating Moscow is that with the Russian economy in shambles, Moscow needs all of the economic stimulus that it can get. The missile deal with Iran would reportedly net Russia more than $800 million.
In 2013 President Obama offered the AGM-88 to Israel for the first time
The newest upgrade, the AGM-88E Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM), features the latest software, enhanced capabilities intended to counter radar shutdown and passive radar using an additional active millimeter wave seeker. It was released in November 2010 and is a joint venture by the US Department of Defense and the Italian Ministry of Defense and is produced by Alliant Techsystems.
originally posted by: AreUKiddingMe
Looks like Iran is going to be Russia's b**ch for real. This puts Iran on a level of rhetoric even higher than North Korea. We will need our own defense system to shield us from the rhetoric now.
Deal with Iran...off the table..hasn't been signed yet.
originally posted by: enlightenedservant
originally posted by: AreUKiddingMe
Looks like Iran is going to be Russia's b**ch for real. This puts Iran on a level of rhetoric even higher than North Korea. We will need our own defense system to shield us from the rhetoric now.
Deal with Iran...off the table..hasn't been signed yet.
That doesn't even make sense. The original deal was signed in 2007 according to this article. Iran's survived this long without the S-300s, so why would they suddenly become dependent on Russia? In fact, Iran sued Russia in international court over Russia's breach of contract. So if anything, Russia's doing this to settle the lawsuit against themselves (I think it was a $4 billion lawsuit but too lazy to look it up).
Also, the S-300s are purely defensive. So that's like saying we need to built a missile defense system to guard ourselves against a fence LOL
originally posted by: AreUKiddingMe
originally posted by: enlightenedservant
originally posted by: AreUKiddingMe
Looks like Iran is going to be Russia's b**ch for real. This puts Iran on a level of rhetoric even higher than North Korea. We will need our own defense system to shield us from the rhetoric now.
Deal with Iran...off the table..hasn't been signed yet.
That doesn't even make sense. The original deal was signed in 2007 according to this article. Iran's survived this long without the S-300s, so why would they suddenly become dependent on Russia? In fact, Iran sued Russia in international court over Russia's breach of contract. So if anything, Russia's doing this to settle the lawsuit against themselves (I think it was a $4 billion lawsuit but too lazy to look it up).
Also, the S-300s are purely defensive. So that's like saying we need to built a missile defense system to guard ourselves against a fence LOL
No it doesn't make sense if you're used to quoting RT news, granted.