MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On August 16, Russia used Hamadan base in Iran amid anti-terror operation in Syria to carry out airstrikes against Daesh and the Jabhat Fatah Al-Sham, formerly known as the Nusra Front, terrorist groups. On August 18, Russian planes left Iran.
"Russia has never been and will never be seeking a military base in Iran," Dzhagaryan said, as quoted by the Tasnim news agency, adding that use of Hamadan airbase by Russia was caused by necessity to fight terrorists.
On Saturday, Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan said that Russian jets could fly from Iran's Hamadan airbase to strike terrorist targets in Syria for as long as needed but Tehran has no plans to transfer control of Hamadan air base to Russian forces engaged in counterterrorism operation in Syria.