'Iran did not allocate military base to Russia': Tehran

By Ahmet Dursun and Elena Teslova

ISTANBUL

Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani on Wednesday refuted allegations that Tehran had permitted Russia to use an airbase in its western Hamedan region to strike positions in Syria, according to Iran's state-run IRNA news agency.

Larijani later rejected reports claiming Iran had reserved its military base for Russia recalling the existence of a law that bans all foreign presence on military bases."Iran cooperates with Russia, as its ally, on regional issues like Syria. That cooperation does not mean that we have allocated our military base to Russia." Larijani said. "Iran has not allocated a military base to Russia or any foreign countries."Citing the Russian Defense Ministry, certain media outlets said Tuesday that TU-22M3 and SU-34 jets took flight from the Hamedan Airbase to strike targets in Syria.Before Hamedan Airbase, Russian forces had been using Khmeimim Airbase in Syria or in Russian territories.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov added Wednesday: "Russia’s using Iranian airbase for striking Syria does not contradict UN Security Council resolutions."In his address to the media, Lavrov responded to criticism from the U.S., saying: “There is nothing to violate the UN Security Council. These fighter jets join operations in Syria with the approval of Iran.”During a news briefing Wednesday, U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Washington was still assessing whether Russia violated UN Security Council resolution 2231 by using the Iranian airbase and he added that the U.S. has not yet made a determination.The UNSC 2231 resolution prohibits the supply, sale and transfer of combat aircraft to Iran unless the council approves.Toner reiterated that Russia's ongoing use of the airbase to strike targets in Syria "doesn't help" with placing a cessation of hostilities agreement back on track in Syria -- especially in and around Aleppo, where civilians are targeted.

When an Anadolu Agency reporter asked Toner during the briefing what the U.S. position was over the kidnapped head of the Syrian Kurdish National Council (KNC), Ibrahim Biro, the spokesman said he was aware of the reports but had no details on it. Biro was kidnapped last week by the terrorist PKK's Syrian affiliate Kurdish Democratic Union (PYD) forces and was forced to leave Syria. He was kidnapped because PYD doesn't want the KNC to conduct political activities in Syria, according to a member of the KNC-related Syrian Kurdish Democratic Party, Nuri Birimo. Since last September, Russia has bolstered its military assets in Syria’s coastal areas, generally relying on a Caspian Sea-Iran-Iraq air corridor.

On Sept. 30, when international criticism of the Russian military buildup in Syria was mounting, Moscow began extensive air operations in the country, declaring that it was fighting terrorism.Turkey and Western powers, for their part, accused Russia of striking at moderate Syrian opposition groups rather than terrorist targets. Russia currently maintains Su-24s, Su-25s, and Su-30s at the airbase, which is controlled by Bashar al-Assad regime of Syria, along with Mi-24 attack helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles.Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests – which erupted as part of the "Arab Spring" uprisings – with unexpected ferocity.Since then, more than a quarter of a million people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced across the war-battered country, according to the UN.The Syrian Center for Policy Research, however, put the death toll from the six-year conflict at more than 470,000 people.

*Anadolu Agency correspondents Sibel Ugurlu and Ahmet Sait Akcay contributed to the report from Ankara and Esra Kaymak Avci contributed to the report from Washington DC.