Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday offered to help Saudi Arabia protect its people and oil infrastructure by selling the kingdom Russian-made air defense systems.
Putin’s remark, at a press conference with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, came after U.S. officials said that Iran is likely to blame for the attacks over the weekend on two crucial Saudi oil processing facilities, which Tehran denies.
“We are ready to help Saudi Arabia to protect their people,” Putin said at the news conference, which followed the latest meeting of the Russian, Iranian and Turkish leaders aimed at achieving a peace settlement in Syria through a diplomatic effort known as the “Astana process.”
“And they need to make one clever decision as Iran did, buying our S-300, and as Mr. Erdoğan did by deciding to buy the most advanced S-400 Triumph air defense systems from Russia,” Putin continued. “These kinds of systems are capable of defending any kind of infrastructure in Saudi Arabia from any kind of attack.”
Putin trolling #Saudi at presser in Ankara today. Rouhani can’t stop laughing, Zarif clearly enjoyed it too:
“The one thing Saudi could’ve done was to make a clever decision like #Iran did, and buy our S-300 missile defence system” pic.twitter.com/cXA71bWN6t
— Golnar Motevalli (@golnarM) September 16, 2019
It was a masterful bit of trolling, even by the standards of Putin, who is well-known for taunting his adversaries.
The Russian president’s comments were clearly aimed more at Washington than at Riyadh, and both Rouhani and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif took visible delight in the trolling of the blustery American president, laughing heartily as Putin spoke with a devious glint in his eye.
The United States had long opposed the sale of the S-300 air defense system to Tehran. For nearly a decade, Russia refused to complete the sale under a deal signed in 2007, first bowing to pressure from the U.S. and Israel, and later in complying with U.N. sanctions imposed over Iran’s nuclear program. But delivery of the surface-to-air missile system was completed in 2016, after the signing of the Iran nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which Trump unilaterally abandoned last year.
Similarly, Washington had complained loudly about Turkey’s plan to buy the more advanced S-400 system, and had even threatened harsh punishment of Turkey, a NATO ally. The Trump administration had urged Erdoğan to instead buy the Patriot air defense system, made by Raytheon, a U.S. defense contractor.
Turkey went ahead with the purchase anyway, and in response, the Trump administration barred Turkey from the U.S. F-35 fighter jet project. But Trump has been urged to punish Turkey more severely, including by the House foreign affairs committee, which last month called on the White House to impose sanctions.
Beyond the disputes over air defense systems, Saudi Arabia is also one of the biggest buyers of U.S.-made weapons and other military hardware and Trump has repeatedly boasted about brokering major deals with Riyadh. Trump even vetoed an effort by the U.S. Congress to block arms sales to Saudi Arabia as punishment over the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
The Saudi military is currently armed with US-made Patrior air defense systems. Since the start of the Saudi invasion of Yemen in 2015, Saudi Patriots have repeatedly demonstrated that they are not capable to defend key Saudi infrastructure objects from missile and drone strikes by Yemen’s Houthis.
