Iran Allowing Syria-Bound Russian Planes to Use Airspace

Local Editor

Tehran and Moscow had been cooperating on a number of issues related to the Syrian conflict and it is possible that Iran will allow Russia to use its airspace to support the anti-terrorist operation in Syria, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council said Saturday.

Russian jets used Iranian airspace several times for their anti-terrorist campaign in Syria.

"Iran and Russia cooperate in Syria not in single case, but the coordination is comprehensive, embracing different aspects; accordingly, Iran's airspace welcomes Russian fighter jets in case they seek hitting terrorists' targets in Syria," Ali Shamkhani said, as quoted by the Mehr news agency.

"In the recent cases, Russian fighter planes have only used Iran's airspace and have not had refueling operations," Shamkhani said.

He added that, at the same time, issuing permissions to allow Russian aircraft to use Iranian airspace would require a lot of procedures and approvals made by different Iranian institutions.

Earlier, the Russian upper house of parliament's defense committee chair said that Russia could use Iran's Hamadan airbase in case the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier used for anti-terror strikes in Syria moves away from Syria for a new mission.

Earlier this week, Russian Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft-carrying cruiser returned home from Syria.

Iran allowed the Russian strike force to operate from the base in the Hamadan province in mid-August. The jets returned to Russia a week later, after completing their anti-terror mission, which targeted extremists in Syria.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team