ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The speaker of the Iranian parliament, Ali Larijani, said on Wednesday that the Russians do not -- and will not -- have a permanent military base in Iran, after Russian planes began bombing missions in Syria from a base in Iran.
While Larijani didn’t mention the Russian airstrikes on Syria, carried out from the base on Tuesday, he did point out that Iran has “cooperated with Russia, as it is our ally on regional issues, especially on Syrian issues.”
“We have good cooperation with Russia and we say it loud and clear,” he added.
According to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), Larijani made this clear after a member of parliament, Heshmatollah Falahat Pisheh, reminded those gathered that under Article 146 of the Iranian Constitution, “The establishment of any kind of foreign military base in Iran, even for peaceful purposes, is forbidden.”
On Tuesday, supersonic Russian Tu-22 bombers, along with Su-34 fighter bombers, took off from an airbase at Hamadan in Iran and bombed targets in three Syrians provinces - targets which they claim belonged to the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly the al-Qaeda affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra.
Flying these large bombers from Hamadan as opposed to the Russian homeland shortens their bombing run from approximately 2,000 kilometers to 700 kilometers, meaning they could carry less fuel and heavier bomb loads.
Russia carries out the bulk of its airstrikes from Hmeymim airbase in Syria’s western Latakia province. However, that base does not host large bombers like Tu-22’s, which have until this week flown all the way from Russia to carry out airstrikes across Syria.
This is the first time Russian military forces have been on Iranian soil since the aftermath of the Second World War when, among other things, Moscow sponsored the creation of the short-lived Kurdish Mahabad Republic.
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