State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Russia’s use pf the Hamedan base in western Iran “could very well be a violation” of a UN Security Council resolution, which Russian Federation denied.
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Also on Tuesday, State Department Spokesman Mark Toner said the Russian airstrikes out of Iran had killed civilians and suggested that they might constitute a violation of the United Nations resolution on military cooperation with Iran.
Resolution 2231 stipulates that the Security Council must sign off on any direct or indirect transfer “to Iran, or for the use in or benefit of Iran, of any battle tanks, armoured combat vehicles, large calibre artillery systems, combat aircraft, attack helicopters, warships, missiles or missile systems”.
Iran has long banned foreign militaries from establishing bases on its soil.
The Russian Defense Ministry says its warplanes have launched a new wave of airstrikes on Islamic State fighters in Syria. It said a Russian Il-76 “Candid” transport plane also landed around the same time before both took off, suggesting the Su-34 may have suffered a mechanical issue.
In Tehran, the state-run IRNA news agency quoted Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, as saying that Tehran and Moscow have exchanged “capacity and possibilities” in the fight against the Islamic State group.
Al Jazeera’s Reza Sayah, reporting from Gazientep on the Turkey-Syria border, said recent rebel victories, including the breaking of the siege of rebel-held Aleppo, may have been behind Russia’s decision to use the air base.
Russian aircraft began flying missions out of Iran on Tuesday, in a surprise move that cements the two countries’ de facto military alliance in Syria.
Russian Federation has opened up a new front in the Syria conflict by using a base in Iran to launch its airstrikes.
The long-range bombers took off early Tuesday near the Iranian city of Hamedan, 175 miles southwest of the Iranian capital, and struck targets in three provinces in northern and eastern Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
Russian Federation has been instrumental in supporting President Bashar al-Assad in the ongoing civil war in Syria, as the Monitor has previously reported.
“There is no stationing of Russian forces in the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran”, Boroujerdi added.
“Is there any UN Charter provision, UN Security Council resolution or a bilateral treaty between the United States of America and Syria authorizing bombing of the Syrian territory by attack UAVs of the US Air Force?”
The United States had been targeting Islamic State militants in Syria with air strikes for almost two years.
Toner told reporters Wednesday that the actual language of the resolution is very nuanced.
“Iran and Russian Federation enjoy close views on the solution to the crisis of terrorism in the region and [have] close cooperation, but no military base has been granted to Russian Federation or any other country at all”.
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Moscow’s deepening involvement comes as the Syrian regime and Iran-backed ground forces supported by Russian Federation airstrikes are battling to retake the city Aleppo from rebels, including jihadists.
