Meanwhile, Iran said on Monday Russia had stopped using an Iranian air base for strikes in Syria, bringing an abrupt halt to an unprecedented deployment that had been criticized both by the White House and some Iranian lawmakers.
Advertisement
According to the Iranian source, “Defense Minister Brigadier-General Hossein Dehqan had said earlier that the Russian fighter jets used Nojeh air base only for fueling or arming in case of necessity”. “They conducted it and they are gone now”, foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi told reporters in Tehran.
The raids were the first carried by Russian Federation from a third country since it began an air campaign to support Syrian President Bashar al Assad nearly a year ago, and also the first launched from Iranian soil by a foreign military since World War Two.
Iran said on Monday that Russian raids on jihadists in Syria from one of its airbases had ended for now, after accusing Moscow of “showing off” when it revealed the bombing runs.
Dehghan also rejected any type of Russian military base in Iran, adding that the use of Hamedan was for a “very short, clear period and linked to operations in Syria”.
During a press conference on Saturday, Minister of Defense Hussein Dahkan announced that his country is ready to provide Russian Federation with another airbase and has defended Moscow’s use for Hamadan airbase considering that it corresponds with the global procedures of traditional wars. The United States has said it would use its veto power in the United Nations’ Security Council to block the possible sales of the fighter jets to Iran.
“Therefore, it needed to refuel in an area closer to the operation”.
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. To date, the Iranians have allowed Russian Federation to use their airspace for attacks in Syria as part of the military cooperation between the two states, which has grown tighter since September 2015.
Russia’s advertisement to the world that it was using the base also appeared to touch a nerve in Iran’s defense ministry.
Tehran, for its part, oversees thousands of troops fighting for Assad on the ground, while Russian Federation provides airpower.
“We have not given any military base to the Russians, and they are not here to stay”, Dehghan said. Dzhagaryan told Russia’s Interfax news agency on Monday.
They were a major shift, significantly shortening flight-times for Russian warplanes, allowing them to carry increased firepower.
“It hasn’t stopped”, he said, adding that Tehran and Moscow were united in their “fight against terrorism”.
Syrian government planes bombed Kurdish positions in Hasakeh last week as the struggle for predominance in the city escalated.
Advertisement
Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani on August 23 suggested Russian warplanes are still using the Hamedan base. I will say this, this has to end, this Syrian travesty.
