Despite Israeli attempts to persuade Russia from supplying the S-300 missile defense system and other sophisticated weapons to Iran, including a trip to Moscow by Prime Minister Netanyahu, the Putin government has accelerated delivery of the S-300 to Tehran and is already negotiating the next arms deal according to the head of the Russian federal arms export service. The Russians insist no items on the UN banned weapons list are included in the Iranian shopping list. Nevertheless, the S-300 would make an American or Israeli raid on Iranian nuclear facilities a much more costly decision. Israeli military officials have expressed concern that the spate of arms sales in the Middle East is threatening Israel’s military superiority – something successive US administrations have vowed not to allow. The US and Israel are currently negotiating a new military aid pact that could see a yearly allocation of a reported $3.7 billion: about $1 billion shy of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s reported wish list but more than any other nation receives from the United States.