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.
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Russian Federation is supplying the S-300PMU2 (SA-20 Gargoyle) long-range air defense systems to Iran.
Russian warplanes bombed Aleppo at Iran’s request to assist its military advisers on the ground in the flashpoint Syrian city, a senior Iranian official has been quoted saying.
Russian Federation might use Iran’s Hamadan airbase again to carry out attacks on terror targets in Syria, a senior defense official said Wednesday.
The U.S. State Department on August 22 said that “it’s not clear” that Russian warplanes have stopped using an Iranian air base to carry out bombing runs in Syria.
Russia’s boasting took the western countries by surprise as it is the first time a foreign power has used Iran’s military facilities, since the Second World War.
According to some Iranian lawmakers, the move was a breach of the Iranian constitution which forbids “the establishment of any kind of foreign military base in Iran, even for peaceful purposes”.
“Russia neither has a base in Iran nor is it stationed [there]”.
But the US State Department said it was “unclear” whether Russia’s use of the base had “definitely stopped” after calling the move “unfortunate but not suprising”.
The AP suggests that there may have been an agreement between the two governments not to make public the use of Hamadan by Russian troops, hence the irritation with Russia’s boasting: “Dehghan’s remarks also suggest Russia and Iran initially agreed to keep Moscow’s use of the air base quiet”.
Iran and Russian Federation are key backers of Syrian President Bashar Assad, but Tehran has remained relatively guarded about its precise involvement in the conflict.
On Monday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Russia’s use of the base had ended. But it wasn’t just the Americans who were angered by the developments.
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The five-year-long war is Syria wages on as the US and Saudi Arabia wanting to topple Assad while Russian Federation and Iran prefer to see him continue.
