Russia has a national security interest to protect by insuring that Iran's security is not compromised. Selling defensive arms to Saudi Arabia, under the condition that Iran's security is jeopardized, makes no sense. Saudi Arabia has already a patron that would protect its security. The sale of the most advanced technology to Saudi Arabia? The logic defies me. Where Russia's security is potentially at stake, money is secondary.

Of course! Israel, USA, and Saudi Arabia are like 3 peas in a pod. Saudis never gave Russia any attention preferring US arms.

I think that Russia Federation needs to think very carefully selling S-400 systems to the Saudis. Iran will become one big market for Russia Federation to sell new updated weapons system if Iran wants to have. I think that Saudis wants to buy new updated weapons system from Russia Federation is one time deal.

During the war between Iran and Iraq the west and USSR heavily armed Saddam with their state of the art weapons and WMD and fighter jet but Iranians kept shooting down these state of the art weapons. At the time I had a Russian neighbour and I asked him why is it that our old fighter planes shoot down the state of the art Russian and French fighter and he told me it is because your fighters are piloted by intelligent pilots who get the best performance of their old equipment but the Iraqis have no idea what plane they are flying. An old proverb says it is not what you have that matters; it is what you can do with it. An S-400 system in the hands of a Saudi is a useless weapon because he will kill himself instead of the enemies. We must thank god that our enemies are stupid!

s-400 isn't going to do the saudis much good. what they need are fighter jets and ballistic missiles to deter aggression from any enemy. Iran has hundreds of missiles and a bunch of outdated planes that will get shot down in any conflict by more advanced jets with superior avionics. the s-400 is useless against a rain of Iranian missiles launched simultaneously. So perhaps this is indeed some sort of quid pro quo deal between Russian and Saudi Arabia - we buy your s400, you cancel s300 deal with Iran. Personally I find Saudi Arabia's defense policy weak and backwards. It's all about appeasement of a powerful foreign entity - at the moment the U.S - to gain security guarantees instead of trying to become self-sufficient in terms of defense. But this is the type of policy that is practiced by a weak monarchy that is opposed to the will and sentiments of its own people and is concerned solely with it's own continued succession. History has recorded many examples of this.

I can't bring myself to believe that Russia would fall into the strategic trap set by Israel and the United States. Everybody knows that Saudi Arabia has nothing but petrodollars and is the obedient stooge of the United States. It is being forced into this game to entice Russia to jeopardize its strategic interests. It will be no less than utter folly for Russia to deny Iran what she has promised to deliver. The most important asset Russia has going for her is the admiration of the world for its honesty and steadfastness. No Russian politician in his right mind would even consider scrapping the Iran deal for a more lucrative (temporarily) with the political nobody Saudi Arabia.

These are just games. More, and more games. Now, Israel has increased the pitch, by coming up with the newest fantastic story: Russians are helping Iran build a bomb! And this is what Netanyahu set about to tell Putin during his secret trip! And the Arctic Sea had secret aluminum tubes inserted into those wood logs. Yeah, and there was a shippment of yellowcakes along with some woodchips. Or am I mixing up the stories from Iraq war justifications... It is hard to keep them apart, especially when the Israeli "intelligence" is concerned. If it is not one fantastic story, it is another. Why would Russian Federation shoot itself in the foot now? Few years ago, West was confidently dishing out the terms and conditions on the life on earth. Now, that the air is out of the baloon, and the financial crisis is being temporarily glossed over, why on earth would anyone rush to help the cause? Saudi Arabia may want to buy some military hardware, what would be new there. But Russia needs to consider its own security. Russia's security and the security of Iran are inseparable. And Iran's security and the security of China are inseparable. So, the rest is just talk. And it is not about the nuclear issue, but about Iran's energy wealth. Europe would like to get its paws on it, on its own terms. But EU does not like to give much to the transit countries, like Turkey. US and UK would like to control it, and then sell it to Europe via Nabucco. Swell! Russia and China would not mind seeing it go East, and some of it West via Russian pipelines. Iran and Russia would like to do business with Turkey, but via South Stream into Europe. As complicated as it looks, Iran needs Russia and China behind it solidly. Russia and China occassionally change the role of the one most likely to be "softened" by the West.