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Russian Federation hits back at United States claims over its Syria raids from Iran

The Russian foreign minister is rejecting allegations that Russia’s use of Iranian military bases for airstrikes in Syria violates any United Nations sanctions on Iran.

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov insisted Wednesday that using the Iranian base did not breach a UN Security Council resolution that requires its prior approval for the supply, sale or transfer of warplanes to Iran.

On Wednesday, Russian Sukhoi-34 jets took off from the Hamedan base in western Iran and carried out a group aerial strike against IS targets in Deir Ezzor province, the defense ministry said in a statement, calling the operation a success.

“The Su-35S aircraft based at the Hmeymim airbase [in Syria] provided fighter-bomber air cover for the bombers”.

Russian Federation on Tuesday first announced that it had launched the strikes from near the Iranian city of Hamedan and struck targets in three provinces in northern and eastern Syria.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov responded to the U.S. allegations during a news conference in Moscow, telling journalists: “There are no reasons to suspect Russia of violating Resolution 2231”.

Ali Larijani, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, insisted on Wednesday that Russian Federation does not have a permanent military base within the Islamic Republic.

Russian Federation backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while the United States believes the Syrian leader must step down and is supporting some rebel groups which are fighting to unseat him.

On Tuesday, Russian warplanes used an Iranian airbase for the first time for military actions in Syria, TASS reported.

Both countries back Assad, and Russian Federation, after a delay, has supplied Iran with its S-300 missile air defense system, evidence of a growing partnership between the pair that has helped turn the tide in Syria’s civil war and is testing US influence in the Middle East.

Syria’s state-run news agency says seven civilians have been killed and nine wounded by rocket rounds fired by armed groups on a government-controlled district of the city of Aleppo.

Iran allowing Russian warplanes to take off from its territory to bomb targets in Syria was an unprecedented move, underscoring the deepening cooperation between two powerhouses heavily invested in the Syrian civil war. His comments were geared at easing domestic concerns over the strikes. Late previous year there were reports about Russian planes flying out of Iran but according to USA officials, Tuesday’s decision came as a surprise. His comment was in response to Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, the representative of the county of Eslamabad-e Gharb and member of the Iranian parliament’s Committee for Foreign Policy and National Security, who said that Iranian Constitution’s Article 146 “prohibits the existence of foreign military bases in the country, even if their establishment pursues peaceful goals”.

Lavrov said the talks were focused on specific mechanisms to implement agreements reached during a visit by U.S. State Secretary John Kerry to Moscow last month.

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Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday that Iraq, which lies between Iran and Syria, had granted Russian Federation permission to use its air space, on the condition that the planes use corridors along Iraq’s borders and refrain from flying over Iraqi cities.

Russia uses Iran as base to bomb Syrian militants for first time