Ghasemi’s comments came a few hours after Iranian Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan made a rare public criticism of Russian Federation for revealing that its warplanes were using Hamedan to attack insurgents in Syria.
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On Saturday, Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan said that Russian jets could fly from Iran’s Hamadan airbase to strike terrorist targets in Syria for as long as needed but Tehran has no plans to transfer control of Hamadan air base to Russian forces engaged in counterterrorism operation in Syria.
“Now, the deployment is temporarily finished and Russia’s use of the base has ended”, Qassemi said, adding, “Russia has no base in Iran”.
Russian Federation became the first foreign military since World War II to use Iranian soil to launch a military attack last week when long-range Tupolev-22M and Sukhoi Su-34 bombers took off from Hamedan air base.
Sergey Zhigarev, first deputy chairman of Russian State Duma Defense Committee, said Russia’s use of Hamedan airbase was only for a short time.
Last week, Russian Federation announced it used the airfield, located some 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of the Iranian city of Hamedan.
The authorization given to Russian bombers to fuel at an Iranian airbase will not threaten Iran’s independence or security, but will rather help its security, Taraqi told Trend August 23. “If the leaders of our two countries consider it necessary and reach the relevant agreements, what sort of problems can there be?” he told Russia’s Interfax news agency.
Speaking on state-run television, Hossein Dehghan said Russian Federation had failed to respect confidentiality, describing Moscow’s attitude as “ungentlemanly”.
While noting that Iran has long supported Assad, a US official said Tehran may not have wanted its involvement to be so public ahead of the 2017 Iranian presidential election.
Iran unveiled its new missile defense system, Bavar 373, on Monday, a system created to intercept cruise missiles, drones, combat aircraft and ballistic missiles.
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Russian Federation first announced last week that its planes had flown combat missions from Iran, a move that represented a historical rapprochement between Moscow and Tehran. 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.
