The raids are the first Russian Federation has reported carrying out from a base in Iran since the Kremlin launched its Syrian bombing campaign in support of longtime ally President Bashar Assad last September.
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The ministry said Tuesday’s strikes had targeted Islamic State and militants previously known as the Nusra Front in the Aleppo, Idlib and Deir al Zour provinces.
“We are now in a very active phase of negotiations with our American colleagues”, Shoigu said, according to RIA.
Russian state television showed footage of bombers and a transport aircraft apparently landing in Iran on Tuesday morning, but it is unclear how many aircraft have been deployed or whether they will be based in the country permanently.
Russia’s military intervention in Syria in September helped to turn the tide of war in Assad’s favor after months of gains in western Syria by rebel fighters, who were aided by foreign military supplies including US-made anti-tank missiles.
The Observatory says Russian airstrikes on the southern edge of Aleppo, targeting the route leading into eastern rebel-held parts of the city, killed 12 militants Tuesday.
Russian Federation has criticized what it describes as U.S. reluctance to persuade the Syrian opposition groups it supports to withdraw from areas controlled by the Nusra Front, the al-Qaida’s branch in Syria.
Fighting in Aleppo, once Syria’s largest city and commercial capital, has intensified in recent weeks.
Russian Federation and Iran are backing Assad’s army against opposition groups in Syria’s civil war, which has killed more than 280,000 people and displaced millions.
This is the first time Russian planes have used an Iranian airdrome for the operation in Syria.
Russia is close to a deal with the United States to ease fighting in Aleppo, said Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu on Monday evening, speaking on Russian TV station Rossiya 24. It also said that the air raids hit “numerous militants”.
ISIS controls much of the Syria-Turkey border in Aleppo Province, while the Nusra Front controls virtually the whole Idlib Province crossing, and Syrian Kurdish forces have the further east Hasakeh Province.
Viktor Ozerov, the head of the defense committee in Russia’s upper house of parliament, told the news agency Interfax he believed Iran and neighboring Iraq were likely to allow the Russian military use of airspace for launching cruise missile strikes.
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In March, the Kremlin said it would withdraw its main forces from Syria, but its military presence in the country has continued.
