http://www.lobelog.com/putin-netanyahu-and-the-s-300-missile-sales-to-iran/#more-28919

Putin, Netanyahu, and the S-300 Missile Sales to Iran

by Mark N. Katz
There have been numerous reports about how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently called Russian President Vladimir Putin to express Israeli displeasure with Moscow ending its embargo on the sale of Russian S-300 air defense missile systems to Iran. Putin reportedly responded by telling Netanyahu that these missiles are “purely defensive” and so “pose no threat to Israel.”
Convinced that Iran intends to acquire nuclear weapons even if it formally agrees not to, Netanyahu has long objected to the prospect of Russia selling S-300s to Iran. For although Moscow describes these weapons as “purely defensive,” worst-case analysts in Israel fear that Iranian possession of a robust air defense missile system would allow Tehran to believe it could build a nuclear weapons capacity that could survive an Israeli or even American attack. And even if Iran had no intention of launching a nuclear attack, possession of a survivable nuclear weapons capacity—Israelis fear—would lead Iran to behave even more aggressively in the Middle East than it does now. Further several Arab states (especially in the Gulf region) share these concerns about the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran