Commenting on the reports, SNSC Secretary Ali Shamkhani told Iran’s IRNA news service that the two countries enjoy strategic cooperation and that Tehran was ready to share its facilities with Moscow to fight terrorism in Syria.
Sabbah Zanganeh an expert in international politics of the Middle East and a member of the Defense Affairs Commission of the Majlis of the first convocation spoke to Sputnik in an interview regarding this move.
“Iran and Russia’s cooperation in the fight against terrorism in Syria has reached a new level. It is good to see that apart from a political front, this cooperation has acquired a new color in the form of reliable military partnership. Iran has given its consent to Russian bombers to use the Iranian airfield and its entire infrastructure to attack positions of Daesh in Syria,” Zanganeh said.
The expert further said, “Such a tactical move will improve the speed and accuracy of carrying out military operations against the terrorists in Syria by shortening the distance and flight time, which will give more opportunities to the Russian air forces.”
Zanganeh pointed out that the expectation of the Russian-Iranian military cooperation is to as soon as possible eliminate the terrorists in Aleppo and around the province, so that eventually the Syrian residents are able to return to their homes.
Another expert, Hassan Khani Zadeh, who is a political analyst and former chief editor of the Iranian news agency MehrNews told Sputnik that the use of the Iranian airfield in Hamadan by the Russian Air Forces is “of great tactical importance, because in this way it increases the intensity of the attacks on the positions of the terrorist groups in Syria.”
He said that considering the fact the Syrian Army has blocked the city of Aleppo, significantly advancing towards the north, one can assume that the way out of the Syrian crisis is more clearly visible now.
“Russia's role in the fight to destroy the terrorist organization Daesh is so significant that in order to block any route that the terrorists may use, the decision to allow the Russian Air Force to use Iranian bases was made,” Khani Zadeh said.
According to Khani Zadeh this visit showed that Ankara has changed its priorities in Syrian politics.
“It is obvious that Turkey prefers to join the Russian-Iranian coalition against Daesh,” the expert stressed.
“This factor and the deployment of Russian bombers in Hamadan testify to the success of the Iranian-Russian strategic partnership in the fight against terrorism, particularly in Syria. Therefore, placement of Russian air forces at the airbase in Hamadan, despite its brevity will surely yield results. The aim of the Russian airborne military operations is to destroy Daesh as soon as possible. Hence, it is clear that Iran and Russian cooperation with Syria will continue to strengthen,” Khani Zadeh concluded.
