ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Russian bombers are still using Iran’s Hamadan airbase to bomb targets in Syria, Iran’s Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said on Wednesday, after the Iranian Foreign Ministry said Moscow’s access to the base had been revoked.
“The flights haven’t been suspended. Iran and Russia are allies in the fight against terrorism,” Larijani insisted, adding that the Russian bombers in Hamadan were using the base only “for refueling” as opposed to a permanent deployment.
His comments come a day after Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Ghasemi told reporters in Tehran that Russia’s temporary permission to the use the base “is finished, for now.”
The US State Department’s deputy spokesman Mark Toner told reporters in Washington on Monday that, “it’s not clear to us… whether their (the Russians’) use of this air base has definitely stopped.”
Iran’s Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan said Russia was “showing-off and inconsiderate” when it revealed it was using the base last week. His criticism was seen as a reversal on Iran’s decision to allow the Russians to use that base.
Article 146 of the Iranian constitution says that Tehran is forbidden from hosting foreign military bases on its soil, even in peacetime. Iranian officials insist they haven’t violated that article, since the Russians are not establishing a permanent base at Hamadan.
