“I’m frankly surprised that it [the ban on S-300 deliveries to Iran] held this long, given that they were not prohibited by [UN Security Council] sanctions from selling these defensive weapons,” Obama said on Friday at a news conference in the White House, after talks with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

Obama recalled that Moscow held off the deal for six years at America’s request.

“This is actually a sale that was slated to happen in 2009, when I first met with then-Prime Minister [Vladimir] Putin. They actually stopped the sale, paused or suspended the sale, at our request,” Obama said.

The $800-million contract signed between Moscow and Tehran in 2007 to supply five S-300 squadrons was put on hold in 2009, and terminated altogether after the UN imposed sanctions on Iran in 2010

President Obama said he’s not surprised that President Putin has now lifted the ban, “given some of the deterioration in the relationship between Russia and the United States, and the fact that their economy is under strain, and this was a substantial sale.”

During his 13th annual Q&A marathon televised from Moscow on Thursday, President Putin also mentioned that the S-300 complexes for Iran had been manufactured, but not delivered, so the manufacturer suffered substantial losses as a result of the deal’s annihilation. Moscow insists the S-300 squadrons made for Tehran were disassembled.

The news about Moscow finally supplying Tehran with powerful air defenses made America’s major Middle East ally – Israel – twitch with discomfort.

Following Russia’s decision to lift a ban on supplying S-300 missile systems to Iran, the Israeli PM called President Putin to express his “grave concerns.” Netanyahu received a detailed explanation of the logic behind Moscow’s move, which pointed out that S-300 is a defensive weapon in the first place.

. READ MORE ALSO: Iran Buys Anti- Aircraft System From Russia To Stop Israel Once And For All. Will They Succeed? 

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