“It’s more complex than that”, Mr Toner told a news briefing.
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Russian Federation sent Sukhoi Su-34 jets from the Hamedan base in western Iran on Wednesday morning to carry out a second group wave of aerial strikes against IS targets in Deir Ezzor province, the defense ministry said, calling the operation a success. “Syrian treaty allowing the bombardment of Syrian territory by drones and planes from the Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, or any other foreign air bases”, he said.
Russian officials have rejected USA criticisms that its use of the base could be in breach of the UN Security Council resolution.
Russia’s use of the Iranian air base comes amid intense fighting for the Syrian city of Aleppo, where rebels are battling Syrian government forces backed by the Russian military.
At a minimum, the shift this week suggests growing cooperation between Moscow and Tehran after last year’s worldwide accord to block Iran from building nuclear weapons.
The United States had been targeting Islamic State militants in Syria with air strikes for almost two years. And Russia had only used its own territory and assets inside Syria for such operations previously. Moscow has both an air and a naval base in Syria, its only foothold in the Middle East.
Russian Federation starts using an Iranian airbase to launch attacks into Syria. But the main advantage, he said, was symbolic. They also send a strong signal to Syria and Iran’s foes across the Middle East, particularly the Sunni Gulf States, as well as to the United States. “Russia is here to stay”.
That history will likely make any long-term Russian use of Iranian military bases unpalatable to the Iranian public, said Michael Rubin, a former Pentagon official who is now a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
Boroujerdi said the Russian Tu-22M3 fighter jets landed inside Iran only to refuel under the permission of the country’s Supreme National Security Council, a move that allowed them to carry a larger bomb load of more than 20 metric tons.
Still, the latest bombing may be mostly for show – and to test new weapons and tactics.
Russian Federation has also sent Tu-22M3 bombers to target ISIS and the Nusra Front militants in Aleppo, as well as in Deir ez-Zor and Idlib. “It also offsets USA efforts moving back toward the Cold War era when the US and Russian Federation were playing against each other for influence”.
“We’re looking at, we’re assessing it, we’re assessing whether this would constitute a violation”, US State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.
The Russian planes flew over Iraq, apparently without the permission of Iraq’s government, a United States official said.
The US State Department’s deputy spokesman on Wednesday said recent Russian air strikes were unhelpful and even risky.
Russian officials rubbished the suggestion. Iran’s government also denied that it had given any basing rights to Russian Federation.
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday his country’s warplanes were only using the base and “there has been no supply, sale or transfer of combat jets to Iran”. But such an arrangement would become more hard if it essentially meant a US-Russia-Iran partnership.
