Tehran, Iran, August 23
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
The new form of military cooperation with Russia serves to increase Iran’s peripheral security, political commentator, foreign relations director of the Islamic Coalition Party Hamidreza Taraqi said.
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.
“Iran’s cooperation with Russia regarding terrorism is strategic. This means Russia will be able to implement its plans in cooperation with Iran, which enjoys authorization by the Supreme National Security Council, to use an Iranian airbase for refueling its aircraft,” Taraqi noted.
Russia said last week its Tu-22M3 and Su-34 bombers were deployed in Iran and from there the aircraft were hitting the “Islamic State” (IS) terrorist group in Syria.
The Tu-22M3 long-range strategic bombers and Sukhoi Su-34 strike fighters, taking off from Iran’s Hamadan Airbase, have hit the positions of the IS and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist groups in Syrian provinces of Aleppo, Deir ez-Zor and Idlib, a Russian Defense Ministry message read Aug. 16.
Following national worries that Iran has handed over an airbase to another countries, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of parliament’s Foreign Policy and National Security Commission said a day later that Russian bombers only refuel at the airbase.
However, Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said August 23 that Russia’s use of the airbase had “stopped for now”.