On Tuesday, Russian military aircraft used Hamadan for the first time to attack terrorists in Syria. It said the strikes targeted Islamic State as well as militants previously known as the Nusra Front in the Aleppo, Idlib and Deir al Zour provinces.
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In this photo taken on Monday, Aug. 15, 2016, A Russian Tu-22M3 bomber stands on the tarmac at an air base near Hamedan, Iran.
Iran’s constitution, ratified after its 1979 Islamic Revolution, bars foreign militaries from having bases within the country.
Hossein Kanani Moghadam, a former commander in Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard, also echoed that point. The US-led air campaign against IS in Syria and Iraq has help reduce territory of the self-declared caliphate by 30 percent, according to the Pentagon.
Iran and Russian Federation “enjoy strategic cooperation in the fight against terrorism in Syria, and share their facilities and capacities to this end”, Shamkhani noted. Satanovsky stressed the Iranian military’s significant role in ground operations.
Velayati said that Iran and Russian Federation enhanced level of cooperation in line with global campaign against terrorism.
“These military aircraft are used by air forces after Iran’s authorization for taking part in the anti-terrorist operation in Syria after a legitimate request from its government”, he said.
“It surprised me greatly”, Rubin said.
Satanovsky remarks that Tehran’s consent to let another country use its airdrome is unprecedented and this explains the USA response.
Some see other motives in Russia’s move.
Kapil Komireddi, an worldwide affairs analyst based in Britain, said the latest developments are “a clear message to Washington that all decisions are not necessarily made in [the] White House”. It said the Iranian deployment would allow the Russian air force to cut flight times by 60 percent. “Who will now dare threaten Tehran with bombardments?”
Other Iranian ” The approach toward the East does necessitate some components, including having strategic relations with countries such as Russian Federation and China”, Ali Abar Velayati noted. officials, including SNSC Secretary Ali Shamkhani, have backed the decision, seeing it as an indication of a strategic alliance between Tehran and Moscow.
“The sanctions against Iran have now been lifted and Russian Federation has the right to conclude agreements with Tehran on both using Iranian airspace and the Hamadan base and on providing military hardware”.
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“Otherwise, we will have to sort out how a vast amount of cash made it to Iran from the USA, and why bank transfers from the USA to Iran have taken place in dollars – it is strictly prohibited under American laws”.
