Russia: Using Iran base for Syria strikes does not violate sanctions

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Russian foreign minister on Wednesday, August 17 rejected allegations that its use of Iranian military bases for airstrikes in Syria violates United Nations sanctions on Iran, the Associated Press reports.

Russia on Tuesday announced that it had launched the strikes from near the Iranian city of Hamedan and struck targets in three provinces in northern and eastern Syria. The defense ministry on Wednesday announced a new wave of airstrikes out of Iran, saying its jets took off earlier in the day from a base southwest of the Iranian capital, Tehran, to strike targets in the east of Syria.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday denied allegations by U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner, who the day before said Russia's operation out of Iran could violate the UN resolution that prohibits the supply, sale and transfer of combat aircraft to Iran unless approved by the Security Council.

"In the case we're discussing there has been no supply, sale or transfer of fighter jets to Iran," Lavrov told a news conference. "The Russian Air Force uses these fighter jets with Iran's approval in order to take part in the counter-terrorism operation" in Syria.

The minister also called on the U.S. not to "nitpick about what is happening in terms of the remaining restrictions on trade and ties with Iran," AP says.

In Syria, seven civilians were killed and nine were wounded by rocket rounds fired by armed groups on a government-controlled district of the city of Aleppo, Syria's state-run news agency said on Wednesday.

Ali Larijani, the speaker of Iran's parliament, insisted on Wednesday that Russia does not have a permanent military base within the Islamic Republic. His comments were geared at easing domestic concerns over the strikes. Iran's constitution, ratified after its 1979 Islamic Revolution, bars foreign militaries from having bases within the country.