BIT OF PROGRESS – AT 8:15 A.M. ET:  We give credit where it's due here.  In a surprise announcement, Russia said it was putting on hold the sale of the S-300 air-defense system to Iran.  That is one of the most sophisticated systems of its kind in the world.  Iranian possession would have checkmated an Israeli strike against the Iranian nuclear program, and made an American strike more problematical.  From the Jerusalem Post:

Russia will put an arms deal it had been working on with Iran on hold following a new round of UN sanctions, reported Russian news agency Interfax Thursday.

The deal, which had Moscow selling Iran the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system, was put on hold despite the fact that Russian officials previously had said that sanctions would not prevent them from completing the deal.

That is good news.  We await details.  Of course, we'd also like to know if Russia got something for this.  But stripping Iran of the possibility of the S-300 might have a sobering effect on Tehran...unless the mullahs can get an advanced system from a third party, like North Korea. 

June 10, 2010