Russia Lifts Ban on Missile Trade with Iran

Russia this week lifted a ban on supplying advanced S-300 missile systems to Iran after the Middle Eastern country lifted an interim deal with world powers regarding its nuclear production program.

The Kremlin had previously stopped the missile for goods trade program in 2010 after the U.S. imposed several sanctions on Iran amid tensions over its nuclear weapons program.

The recent interim deal reached between Iran and world powers, including the United States, China, Germany, France, Britain and Russia, allows a gradual lifting of sanctions if Iran halts its nuclear weapons production program.

Following the deal, Russia Vladimir Putin immediately reenacted the missile systems trade to rekindle its relationship with Iran, an important ally for Russia in the Middle East.

According to Reuters, Iran and Russia have given conflicting statements as to whether they have gone through with signing a missile trade program, but Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov confirmed recently that a deal had in fact been signed.

"I wanted to draw your attention to the rolling out of the oil-for-goods deal, which is on a very significant scale," Ryabkov reportedly said at a recent briefing with the upper house of parliament.

"In exchange for Iranian crude oil supplies, we are delivering certain products. This is not banned or limited under the current sanctions regime," Ryabkov added.

Recently, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry released a statement saying that Russia had backed President Barack Obama's information regarding the Iranian nuclear deal.

"The Russians, who are not our usual allies, released a statement saying that what we have put out in terms of our information is both reliable and accurate," Kerry said on CBS's "Face the Nation."