Russia yesterday lifted a ban on supplying Iran with an air defence missile system which could be used to protect nuclear sites . Vladimir Putin gave the go-ahead for the deal , with the defence ministry saying it was ready to supply the S-300 missile equipment ‘ promptly ’ . The move is likely to anger both the U.S. and Israel at a time of heightened tensions between the world powers and following a landmark deal on nuclear weapons . Moscow blocked deliveries of the surface to air missiles to Iran in 2010 after the United Nations imposed sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear programme , barring hi-tech weapons sales . Russia yesterday lifted a ban on supplying Iran with the air defence S-300 missile system ( above ) , which could be used to protect nuclear sites . But the Russian president lifted the ban after Tehran struck an interim deal with Britain and five other countries to curb nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief . The framework deal , reached this month , intended to significantly restrict Iran ’ s ability to produce nuclear weapons , while giving it relief from international sanctions . The negotiations have been heavily criticised by Israel which has warned against Iran having any nuclear activities . Russia signed the £545million ( $ 800m ) contract to sell Iran the S-300 missile system in 2007 , but later suspended their delivery because of strong objections from the U.S. and Israel . Vladimir Putin ( above ) gave the go-ahead for the deal , with the defence ministry saying it was ready to supply the equipment . The contract to deliver the system was heavily criticised by Israel and the U.S. , who feared it could be used to protect Iranian nuclear sites . When it was cancelled , Iran filed a lawsuit with a court in Geneva , seeking £2.7billion ( $ 4bn ) in damages for breach of contract , but the court has not yet issued a ruling . Moscow said it had no choice but to annul the deal when the UN imposed sanctions , outlawing the sale of advanced weapons . Despite the sanctions , Russia and Iran have remained close allies . The deal on Iran ’ s suspected nuclear activities is supposed to be finalised by June 30 . There is no firm agreement on how or when to lift the current sanctions . The announcement comes as the U.S. slammed Russia for flying a fighter jet close to a U.S. reconnaissance plane in an ‘ unsafe and unprofessional manner ’ last week . Pentagon spokesman Mark Wright said the U.S. was filing a complaint to Russia after the incident over the Baltic Sea , in the international airspace north of Poland . The U.S. crew believed the Russian pilot ’ s action were ‘ unsafe and professional due to the aggressive manoeuvres it performed in close proximity to their aircraft and its high rate of speed ’ , Mr Wright added . Russian officials reportedly denied their pilot did anything wrong . The incident was not first time the U.S. protested to Moscow what it considered to be an unsafe intercept . Last April , a Russian fighter jet intercepted a US reconnaissance plane in international airspace over the Sea of Okhotsk .
Vladimir Putin gave the go-ahead to supply the S-300 missile equipment . Moscow blocked deliveries to Iran in 2010 after the the defence ministry imposed sanctions .