Iran’s Foreign Ministry also hints at a Russian return, saying Moscow will stop using the base for the time being.
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The Russian military has left the Hamadan airbase in Iran used by Moscow to launch recent airstrikes on Syria, the Russian ambassador to Iran Levan Dzhagarian said Monday.
In regard to Iran-UK relations, he said “one of the objectives of the Foreign Ministry is to normalize its relations with the countries that we have no problems with”.
The raids were the first carried by Russian Federation from a third country since it began an air campaign against Mr Assad’s opponents nearly a year ago, and also the first launched from Iranian soil by a foreign military since World War Two.
Some Iranian lawmakers called the move a breach of Iran’s constitution which forbids “the establishment of any kind of foreign military base in Iran, even for peaceful purposes”.
Iranian law makers had called the move as violation of the constitution that prohibits the establishment of any foreign military base within the country, even for the sake of peaceful intentions, whereas the U.S. had called the move as unsurprising and unfortunate.
In a statement, Russia’s defense ministry confirmed it had withdrawn all of its warplanes from Iran. But it said the use was not a permanent arrangement, but “limited cooperation”.
“Russia has no base in Iran and is not stationed here”.
Earlier Monday, state TV quoted Iran’s defense minister as saying that Russian Federation “will use the base for a very short and fixed span”. Russian planes also take off from Syria’s Hmeymim base.
After some delay, Russian Federation supplied Iran with its S-300 missile air defense system, evidence of a growing partnership that is testing USA influence in the Middle East.
“Russia and Iran stand closely on the issue of fighting terrorism and the Islamic State (terrorist group outlawed in Russia)”, Qasemi stated.
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Also on Monday, Iran unveiled its new missile defense system, Bavar 373, which is created to intercept cruise missiles, drones, combat aircraft, and ballistic missiles. 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”.
