Iran Deploys Russian S-300 Surface To Air Missiles At Its Fordow Nuclear Facility

zerohedge.com

A few short months after Iran publicly demonstrated the arrival of Russian S-300 missile systems, overnight Iran's state media reported that Tehran has deployed the Russian S-300 surface-to-air missile defence system around its Fordow underground uranium enrichment facility. Iranian state TV on Sunday aired footage of deployment of the recently delivered missile system to the nuclear site in the central Iran.

"Our main priority is to protect Iran's nuclear facilities under any circumstances," Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' (IRGC) air defense force told state TV cited by Reuters.  Esmaili did not say whether the new missile defense system was operational, however the IRGC commander did say that, “Today, Iran's sky is one of the most secure in the Middle East.”

Iran's top authority Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Sunday that the country's military power was for defensive purposes. "The S-300 system is a defence system not an assault one, but the Americans did their utmost to prevent Iran from getting it," Khamenei said in a speech broadcast live on state TV.

In May, Iran announced that it had deployed the S-300 defense systems at its Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base. The missile redployment next to the facility which several years ago was the focus on an infamous Stuxnet infestation, which was allegedly masterminded by Israeli and US espionage organizations, is likely to provke an angry condemnation from the west which may see the move as one of provocation and potentially a hint that the Iran plans to quietly pursue its nuclear enrichment program in defiance of last year's landmark nuclear agreement.