Iran’s parliament has pushed back against the military dismissing its oversight following Russian Federation using an Iranian air base to launch airstrikes on Syria. There was criticism in the press and parliament that allowing Russian Federation to make use of an Iranian base violated Iran’s constitutional ban on foreign military bases.
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The Russians too may quietly continue to use the base until bases in Syria are upgraded in the fall, analysts say.
Moscow did not comment publicly on Monday on Tehran’s comments.
On the global stage, Russian Federation and Iran are the two most defiant public backers of the Assad regime, even though their respective motivations differ.
One solution might be for Russia to formally lease and use the airbase, but this would require the parliaments of the two countries to adopt a treaty specifying all the technical and diplomatic aspects of Russian’s presence in Iran, including the status of its diplomats.
At the same time, we should support the national Air Force.
Speaker of the Iranian Parliament has emphasized that flights of Russian fighter aircraft are still being performed from Nojeh airbase in Hamedan. Post-Soviet Russia has also annoyed Iran on many occasions, such as when it agreed to sell weapons to Tehran but then postponed or cancelled these deals at America’s behest, took several years to complete the Bushehr nuclear reactor (amid all manner of rancorous dispute), and supported UN Security Resolutions imposing economic sanctions on Iran when it could have vetoed them. There is a line of countries that want to be friends with Iran – Russia is not alone on that list.
On a practical level, US-led anti-Assad forces now needed to avoid collisions with Russian jets operating in the Syrian air space.
“Further use of the Hamadan air base in the Islamic Republic of Iran by the Russian Aerospace Forces will be carried out on the basis of mutual agreements to fight terrorism and depending on the prevailing circumstances in Syria”, the Russian military official maintained.
Toner last week criticized Russia’s use of the Iranian base, though he acknowledged that Moscow gave a brief advance warning before conducting raids from the base. Iran was not particularly happy about Russia’s public boast about its use of the airbase – the presence of foreign powers in Iran has always been a sticky issue, both historically and constitutionally. For Iran, allowing Russians to operate from its territory is remarkable given Tehran’s longstanding resentment about Russian historical occupation of parts of Iran.
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The Associated Press notes the announcement closely followed criticism from Iran condemning Russian officials for making their cooperation public. Russian and Iranian motivations on Syria differ, but the means have become more compatible. But for this to happen, Washington would actually have to recognize that the opportunity exists.
