Russia stops using Iranian airbase ‘for now’

Russia has stopped using an Iranian air base for its missions in Syria “for now,” Iran’s foreign ministry said Monday.

“Russia has no base in Iran and is not stationed here,” foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi was quoted as saying by Tasnim News Agency, according to Reuters. “They did this (operation), and it is finished for now.”

{mosads}The statement comes a week after Russia began using an air base near the city of Hamadan to launch airstrikes in Syria in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The move was first time in its year-old air campaign that Moscow used a base outside of Russia or Syria and was the first time a foreign power used an Iranian air base since World War II. It was also widely seen as sending a message to Washington.

Iranian officials have said their base was just used for refueling. The ability to refuel and fly from Iran shortens the length of time Russian bombers need to fly into Syria.

Qassemi’s announcement comes just after Iran’s defense minister criticized Russia for publicizing its use of the base.

“Russians are interested to show they are a superpower to guarantee their share in political future of Syria and, of course, there has been a kind of show-off and ungentlemanly (attitude) in this field,” Defense Minister Gen. Hossein Dehghan said on state TV, according to The Associated Press.

Russia’s ambassador to Tehran, Levan Dzhagaryan, also confirmed to the Interfax news agency that all of Moscow’s warplanes have withdrawn from Iran, according to the AP.

But, Dzhagaryan added that he does “not see any reason” why the Russians can’t use the Iranian base again, according to the AP.

The United States had criticized Russia’s use of an Iranian base as “not helpful.” The State Department has also said it was looking into whether using the base violated a United Nations Security Council resolution that bans the supply, sale and transfer of combat aircraft to Iran.