This from Forbes:
WASHINGTON (AFX) - The United States is concerned about reports that Russia has agreed to sell Iran 29 mobile surface-to-air missile systems, a senior State Department official said Friday.
US officials said they were studying the report by Russia's state news agency ITAR-TASS that Moscow would provide Tor M-1 short-range missiles to Tehran in a deal worth more than 700 mln usd.
But the State Department official, who asked not to be named, said: 'Any arms sales to Iran, that's a source of concern. And there are certain US laws which govern our potential reaction to that.'
The official did not elaborate but Nicholas Burns, undersecretary of state for political affairs currently visiting Russia, made it clear in Moscow that Washington was not happy with the deal.
Burns told Echo Moscow radio that he had raised questions about the reported sale with the Russian foreign ministry, which had promised to respond.
GOI: Wait a minute, wait a minute. I thought Georgie boy and Putin were best buds and now Russia is looking to sell high-tech weapons to one of the stated "axis of evil" country's???
I thought Reagan took care of the cold war and yet here we are again playing the missile game with Russia. Also, let's not forget that Condi Rice is supposed to be an expert on Russia and Soviet history so where the hell has she been?!! She better get her a$$ over there right now and start talkin' to the ruskies.
First Russia helps Iran build a nuclear facility and now they are looking to send $700 million worth of missiles to them!!
If we are serious about stopping terrorism "over there" then we better prevent this sale from going through. There are many reports that Iran is funding a lot of the terrorism in Iraq and especially funding Shiite militias.
The last thing we need are these missiles in the hands of the Iranians. If this deal isn't broken up by the Bush administration then I would see that as a major failure in the "war on terror."
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2 comments:
This is a huge freakin' deal. The implications all depend on the delivery dates, though.
This could be the Russians directly stopping the US from threatening to bomb Iran nuke sites, or it could be a more subtle pressure to keep the US from getting too comfortable a presence in the middle east as a whole.
Don't know, but I think if I had to choose who was the more cunning diplomat, Putin or Bush....
Mike:
Yeah, I think (at the very least) it is Russia flexing it's muscle to show the U.S. (and the world) that they still have some muscle. It is scary that they are arming Iran.
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