Iranian officials expressed interest in procuring the S-400 missile system to further improve its defense capabilities along with the previously purchased S-300PMU2. Russia stated at the time it was ready to sell the S-400 system to Iran if an official request was made. Egypt In February 2017 Sergey Chemezov, CEO of Rostec, stated that Egypt was interested in the S-400 air defense system. He explained that Russia offered to sell Egypt either the Antey-2500 or S-400. According to Chemezov, the negotiations were delayed due to Egypt's financial issues. Iraq In February 2018 Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs Ibrahim al-Jaafari confirmed ongoing rumors that his country had shown interest in the S-400 and that negotiations with Russia were underway. In May 2019 Iraq's ambassador to Russia, Haidar Mandour Hadi, said the Iraqi government had decided to procure the S-400 air defense system. Qatar In January 2018 Russian state media TASS reported that Qatar was in an advanced state of talks to procure the S-400 air defense system. United States In June 2020 United States senator John Thune proposed an amendment to the (ultimately unsuccessful) Senate version of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act to allow the US Department of Defense to purchase Turkey's S-400 system with funds from the U.S. Army's missile procurement account, thus negating Turkey's contravention of the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act of 2017. This was an attempt to allow Turkey to re-enter the F-35 Lightning II acquisition and ownership program. Serbia Serbia has also expressed interest in the system. Foreign variant South Korea South Korea is developing a simplified medium range SAM system, M-SAM Cheolmae-2, based on technology from the 9M96 missile and with help of the Almaz. The prime contractor is Samsung Thales, a joint venture between Samsung and Thales. The M-SAM will be composed of an X band multi-function radar vehicle built by Samsung Thales in technical cooperation with Almaz, fire-control vehicles, and transporter erector launchers built by Doosan. Missiles are to be provided by LIG Nex1. Operators Current operators Belarusian Armed Forces – Contract signed in May 2022 and executed in December. People's Liberation Army – Contract signed in September 2014, deliveries of units began in January 2018, and are being inducted. Indian Armed Forces – A contract was signed in October 2018 during an official meeting between Russia's President Vladimir Putin and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. The deal,