Israel lobbies Russia on Iranian arms sales, but gets no promises...

Reuters, here

"... last week Israel agreed to supply surveillance drones worth $50 million to Russia. The Israeli Haaretz newspaper said this followed a pledge by Moscow not to sell Iran the S-300, which could protect Iranian nuclear facilities against air strikes....... A recently retired Israeli official informed about bilateral security talks with Russia said that while Israel has made clear its objections about Iran receiving S-300s, "the Russians don't make promises of this kind. "By bringing Russia into its circle of foreign UAV clients, Israel hoped to bury any ill-will over the Georgian conflict and win scope to apply pressure over Iran, the industry source said....... "What was our alternative, to say no to the Russian request for our drones? The thinking was: let's go ahead and sell, and then try to gain sympathy on the S-300 issue,",..."