Iranian officials said Wednesday that they had received a delivery of advanced Russian air defense systems that are designed to protect its nuclear facilities at Isfahan, Bushehr, Tehran, and eastern Iran from attack, primarily from Israeli or American aircraft. The Associated Press reports that the arrival of the sophisticated systems came just before Iran began three days of military war gaming.
The response from the United States was almost immediate in the wake of the transaction. MosNews reports that Wednesday afternoon US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that the delivery of the Tor-M1 missile system may cause the US to impose new sanctions against Russia, especially since the US had already harshly criticized the contract and “had urged the Kremlin to terminate it.”