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The S-300
surface-to-air system was first deployed at the height of the
Cold War in 1979.
In its updated form it is one of the most advanced systems of
its kind and, according to British security think tank RUSI, can
engage multiple aircraft and ballistic missiles around 150 km
(90 miles) away.
Russia's agreement to provide Iran with S-300 has sparked
concern in Israel, whose government Iran has said it aims to
destroy.
In a recorded transmission, state television showed Foreign
Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari telling a news
conference on Monday: "I announce today that the first phase of
this (delayed) contract has been implemented."
Ansari was replying to reporters' questions about videos on
social media showing what appeared to be parts of an S-300
missile system on trucks in northern Iran.
Russia says it canceled a contract to deliver S-300s to Iran in
2010 under pressure from the West. President Vladimir Putin
lifted that self-imposed ban in April 2015, after an interim
agreement that paved the way for July's full nuclear deal.
The U.S. military has said it has accounted for the possible
delivery of the S-300 to Iran in its contingency planning.
(Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin, Editing by William Maclean
and John Stonestreet)
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