Obama ‘Surprised’ It Took Russia So Long to Cross His Red Line on Missiles to Iran

“With respect to the Russian sales, I will tell you, this is actually a sale that was slated to happen in 2009 when I first met with then Prime Minister Putin. They actually stopped the sale, paused or suspended the sale, at our request. I’m frankly surprised that it held this long given that they were not prohibited by sanctions from selling these defensive weapons. When I say I’m not surprised -- given some of the deterioration in relationship between Russia and the United States and the fact that their economy is under strain and this was a substantial sale.”