RUSSIA’S MILITARY HAS confirmed that a planned sale of missiles to Iran has been blocked by UN sanctions.
The head of general staff at the Russian army, General Nikolai Makarov, said the sale of the air defence missiles was covered by the sanctions.
A Russian cabinet member announced in June that the contract would be honoured despite the sanctions, but Putin announced shortly afterwards that the sale was being suspended.
Makarov said Russia had decided not to supply the missiles, which would bolster the defence of nuclear facilities.
The BBC reports that the general did not say that the contract had been dismissed, suggesting that its cancellation depends on “how Iran behaves”.
Last month, it emerged that Russia was helping Iran to get its first nuclear reactor up and running by providing the necessary fuel.
Lost in translation?
Iran’s president Ahmadinejad addressed the UN General Assembley yesterday to decry “undemocratic” decisions made by global bodies, al Jazeera reports.
The translation of his speech went far from smoothly, however.
The president broke off shortly into his speech to complain about the translation. The address then continued, but translation later stopped completely after an announcement said that translators had been reading from a written text translated into English, rather than working from Ahmadinejad’s comments directly.
These parts of the presentation were announced by the translator:
World leaders are expected to assess the impact of sanctions on Iran’s nuclear development programme today, according to Bloomberg.
A recent report from the International Atomic Energy Agency said that Iran was hampering its efforts to monitor its nuclear programme, and said that while Iran’s economy had been affected, the sanctions had not impeded the nuclear programme.
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