The Russian Aerospace Forces used the base less than a week.
Photo: Sputnik / Ramil Sitdikov
Russian military has wanted to use the Hamadan airbase not only as a stage airfield, but also as a full-fledged military facility with deployment of respective arsenals, the Kommersant newspaper reported, citing a source in the Russian military command.
However, Teheran did not accept this variant, the source noted.
Earlier, Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan expressed dissatisfaction with a way, which has been used by the Russian side to cover news about use of the airbase.
“Russia is interested to show itself as a superpower and guarantee its role in determining the political future of Syria. And, of course, there was a certain percentage of posturing and ungentlemanly behavior on their part,” Dehghan said.
Official reports of the Russian Defense Ministry called the Hamadan airbase a home station. The Russian Defense Ministry has not made any mention of terms of the agreements with Tehran. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu gave no public comment.
On August 20, the Iranian Defense Minister said that Iran will allow the Russian Air Force to use its Hamadan airbase for “as long as they need” to support their mission against terrorists in Syria. He also noted that this military decision was made “in the framework of cooperation in fighting IS and other terrorists, which was organized at the request of the Syrian government.” However, on August 22, Russian Ambassador to Tehran, Levan Dzhagaryan, announced that Russian military have left the airbase. He also admitted that operations of the Russian Aerospace Forces, carrying out from the airbase, may be resumed by decision of the two countries’ leadership.
“Moscow sees no obstacles to the further use of Iranian infrastructure, including the air base in Hamadan, for strikes against terrorists in Syria,” Djagaryan said.
“The Russian Aerospace Forces will use the Hamadan airbase in Iran on the basis of mutual agreements with Tehran, depending on situation in Syria,” the Russian Defense Ministry stressed.
In just a few hours earlier, spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Bahram Ghasemi, said that Russia, currently, has completed to use the Iranian military base.
“Russia has no base in Iran and is not stationed here. They did this [operation] and it has finished for now,” the spokesman told reporters on Monday.
At the same time, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani stressed that Tehran does not prohibit Moscow to use the Hamadan airbase for flights over Syria.
The developments around the Hamedan Air Base depicts that there could be some gap in the communication between Tehran and Moscow.
Meanwhile, the US State Department put in doubt an ultimate cessation of use of the Hamadan airbase by Russia. According to US State Department spokesman Mark Turner, the department is not sure whether Russia completely stopped the use of the Hamadan airbase, Reuters reported. He also stressed that the US are closely watching the development of cooperation between Russia and Iran.
“It is not clear for us, whether Russia has completely stopped its using of the Iranian air base,” Turner said at a briefing on 22 August.
