Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan on Monday attacked publications of the Russian military press that reported the use of Iran’s air base. Many still remember how Russian Federation, alongside Britain, invaded and occupied Iran during World War II to secure oil fields and Allied supply lines. He added that Iran’s Shahid Nojeh air base in Hamedan is only “used for refueling”, not for permanent deployment. In fact, satellite images show another conclusion – Russian operation was interrupted, not completed, as tries to say the MoD of Russia.
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Putin has made it clear that he has no intention of sending large-scale Russian ground forces to fight a counterinsurgency battle in Syria. It is illegal under Iran’s constitution to give military bases to foreign armies.
“Close cooperation among Iran, Russia and Syria in carrying out the recent operations against Takfiri terrorists in Syria has foiled the United States delaying tactic, which aimed to impose its will on security equations in Syria”, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani said on Tuesday. Another lawmaker said Russian Federation was only using the base to refuel.
Maziar Behrooz, a history professor at San Francisco State University and an expert on Iran-Russia relations, said Iran’s withdrawal of permission, at the very least, signaled “a lack of coordination between the Iranians and Russians” over how – or even whether – the deal would remain secret.
Speaker Ari Larijani, who might be the second most powerful politician in Iran after “Supreme Leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, publicly upbraided Defense Minister Gen. Hussein Dehghan for not “speaking properly” when the general said Russia’s use of the base was of no concern to the Parliament.
“All Russian military have left Iran’s Hamedan airbase”, Russian ambassador to Tehran, Levan Dzhagaryan, said. But while Russia, Iran and their militia allies have succeeded in propping up the Assad regime, they have been unable to defeat its many opponents.
Pause doesn’t mean cessation of Russian aerial operations from Iranian territory.
Media reports say Turkish artillery has attacked a US -backed Syrian Kurdish militia as well as Islamic State group positions across the border in Syria.
Last week, Russian Federation announced it used the airfield, located some 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of the Iranian city of Hamedan.
But that boast, it appears, was too much for the Iranian Parliament. 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.
Professor Zibakalam is skeptical of Iran’s and Russia’s mutual interests in Syria.
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Over the weekend, photographs of President Hassan Rouhani were published in Iranian state media near a Bavar-373 missile defense system.
