After one week, Iran boots Russia from air base

MOSCOW -- A week after allowing Russian planes to fly bombing runs into Syria from a base inside its borders, Iran reversed course on Monday and withdrew permission for the flights, complaining that the Kremlin had been too public about the arrangement.

The about-face and the explanation for it from Iran's Foreign Ministry came as Russian state news media had been trumpeting the deal as a sign of a growing friendship with Iran. No foreign power has based forces in Iran since World War II.

Moscow, which had used the Shahid Nojeh Air Base, near Hamadan, to refuel its bombers striking Syria at least three times last week, confirmed that all Russian warplanes that were based in Iran have returned to Russia.

A statement issued by the Russian Defense Ministry said Monday that as long as Iran agreed, Russia could use the Iranian air base again, "depending on the situation" in Syria.

"The Russian military aircraft involved in launching airstrikes from the Iranian Hamadan base against terrorist sites in Syria successfully accomplished the tasks they had set out to complete," Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said in a statement. "All aircraft involved in this operation are now on Russian territory."

The agreement had seemingly marked a milestone for Russian foreign policy in the Middle East and a strengthening alliance with the region's Shiite powers of Iran, Iraq and the government side in Syria's civil war.

Iran's minister of defense, Brig. Gen. Hossein Dehghan, accused Russia of publicizing the deal excessively, calling the Kremlin's behavior a "betrayal of trust."

Earlier Monday, state TV quoted him as saying that Russia "will use the base for a very short and fixed span." The comments by Dehghan came after he chastised the parliament this weekend for asking questions about Russia using the base.

With a history of meddling by Western powers, notably Britain, Iran guards its sovereignty closely. After Russia's Tupolov and Sukhoi bombers started flying last week, Iranian members of the parliament said the agreement might be in violation of the constitution.

Many still remember how Russia, alongside Britain, invaded and occupied Iran during World War II to secure oil fields and Allied supply lines. But while Britain withdrew, Russia refused to leave, sparking the first international rebuke by the nascent United Nations Security Council in 1946.

"We have not given any military base to the Russians, and they are not here to stay," Dehghan said. The two countries had "no written agreement" for use of the base, he said, adding that it was only a temporary agreement on refueling.

Responding to a question about why Iran didn't initially announce Russia's presence at the airfield, Dehghan appeared prickly on the state TV broadcast.

"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 showoff and ungentlemanly [attitude] in this field," he said.

Dehghan's remarks also suggest Russia and Iran initially agreed to keep Moscow's use of the air base quiet.

Russia announced what it described as a deal to use the Iranian base on Aug. 16, saying it would shorten the distance flown by long-range bombers, which had been flying from southern Russia.

A Russian analyst of the Middle East, Yuri Barmin, posted on Twitter that it was clear the base was "a temporary arrangement due to logistical difficulties" but added that the termination "was too quick."

Victor Mizin, a professor at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Russia's university for diplomats, said the symbolism of the air base deal had been important in Moscow.

"The message was a continuation of what Russia started in Syria," Mizin said, "which is saying that Russia has returned to the status of a great power, like the Soviet Union, only without the ideology."

Analysts have suggested Russia potentially leveraged Iran into allowing it to use the airfield over either economic or military interests, such as Tehran wanting to purchase Sukhoi-30 fighter jets or its deployment of Russian S-300 air defense missile systems.

Meanwhile, fighting continued Monday in Syria. In the northern Syrian city of Hasakeh, clashes again broke out between Kurdish fighters and pro-government militias, according to the Kurdish Hawar News Agency. The government and the Kurdish movement have shared control of the city since the early years of the Syrian civil war.

Syrian government planes bombed Kurdish positions in Hasakeh last week as the struggle for predominance in the city escalated.

Information for this article was contributed by Andrew E. Kramer of The New York Times; and by Nasser Karimi, Jon Gambrell, Nataliya Vasilyeva and Philip Issa of The Associated Press.

A Section on 08/23/2016

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