An Iranian foreign ministry spokesman on Monday denied any differences with Russia over the use of Hamedan, adding that Russian raids from Iranian territory had ended for now.
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“It is finished, for now”, Ghasemi said, without elaborating.
Shamkhani dismissed the inaccurate comments about cooperation between Tehran and Moscow in the fight against terrorism and said, “The all-out relations between Iran and Russian Federation, which are based on serving the national interests [of the two countries] and are ongoing within the framework of strategic cooperation, are not merely [confined to] the battle against terrorism and span broader dimensions”.
“Today, Iran has sided with the powerful Russian Federation due to its need for cooperating with this country in combating Takfiri terrorist plots”, Shamkhani said.
The official also referred to earlier remarks made by Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Hossein Dehghan, the Kremlin’s manner is a “betrayal of trust”.
Last week, Russian Federation announced that its Tu-22M3 bombers carried out combat missions in Syria from Iran’s Hamadan airfield. Dehghan said that Tehran has shown interest in buying Russian Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets, adding that the response from Moscow “has not been negative so far”. However, Iranian government’s focus is on acquiring the capability and technology to produce the systems in-country rather than depending on Russian Federation for weapons.
Iranians gave an extraordinary permission to Russians: no foreign power has based forces in Iran since World War II, that’s why trumpeting news in Russian mass media about one more political advantage in the Middle east looked unacceptably public and arrogant to Iranians. Previously, the USA has said it would use its veto power in the United Nations’ Security Council to ban such a sale. Russian Federation initially held off on supplying the missile system to Tehran amid negotiations over Iran’s contested nuclear program. That system is created to be the local equivalent of the S-300 – perhaps an Iranian signal back to Moscow that it’s capable of defending itself without the Russian missile system.
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Dehghan added that Iran still sees the Sukhoi-30 as “an appropriate fighting aircraft”, though he acknowledged the US could seek to block any fighter jet deal. The State Departmnet also stated that it was studying if it violated a UN Security Council resolution that bars the supply, sale and transfer of combat aircraft to Iran. The Kremlin says its attacks on militants in Syria are necessary because IS is relying on thousands of fighters who come from Central Asia and pose a threat to Russian security. In the northern Syrian city of Hasakeh, clashes again broke out between Kurdish fighters and pro-government militias, according to the Kurdish Hawar News Agency.
