Russia 'not selling Iran offensive weapons': Lavrov

Friday, September 11, 2009 MOSCOW: Russia will not sell Iran any "offensive weapons," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday, amid reports that Russia has been supplying sophisticated weaponry to the Islamic republic. "We are not selling any offensive weapons to Iran," Lavrov told a gathering in Moscow. "With Iran, we have not done anything that contradicts our international undertakings."Lavrov on Tuesday strongly denied that a cargo ship whose supposed seizure by pirates sparked an international mystery was secretly carrying sophisticated S-300 anti-aircraft missiles bound for Iran. The Arctic Sea, a Maltese-flagged vessel with a Russian crew, was hijacked near Sweden in late July before being recovered by the Russian navy in the Atlantic Ocean several weeks later.