Russian raids from Iran airbase over for now: Tehran
Sisi says Putin ready to host ME peace talks
AFP
AFP, TEHRAN: Iran said Monday that Russian raids on jihadists in Syria from one of its airbases had ended for now, after accusing Moscow of showing off when it revealed the bombing runs.
It was a specific, authorised mission and its over for now. They conducted it and they are gone now, foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi told reporters in Tehran.
He left open the possibility of future Russian combat flights from the Islamic republic, saying it would depend on the situation in the region, and according to our permission.
The Russian ambassador to Tehran, Levan Dzhagaryan, said Monday all Russian planes have left Irans air base in Hamedan but that nothing prevents them from using it again in the future.
There are no reasons to worry. If the leaders of our two countries consider it necessary and reach the relevant agreements, what sort of problems can there be? he told Russias Interfax news agency.
For the time being, there are no (Russians) remaining in Hamedan airbase, he added.
Ghasemis comments came a few hours after Iranian Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan made a rare public criticism of Russia for revealing that its warplanes were using Hamedan to attack insurgents in Syria. Naturally, the Russians are keen to show that they are a superpower and an influential country and that they are active in security issues in the region and the world, Dehghan told Irans Channel 2 television.
There has been a kind of showing-off and inconsiderate attitude behind the announcement of this news, he said.
Iran and Russia are key backers of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but Tehran has remained relatively guarded about its precise involvement in the conflict.
The Islamic republic is highly sensitive to any suggestion that it would allow foreign militaries to be based in its territory, which is outlawed under its constitution, and has emphasised that Russian planes were only refuelling in Iran.
(Russia) needed to refuel in an area closer to the operation. Thats why they used the Nojeh base (in Hamedan) but we have definitely not given them a military base, said Dehghan. The flights from Iranian territory started on August 16.
They were a major shift, significantly shortening flight-times for Russian warplanes, allowing them to carry increased firepower.
Another report from Cairo adds: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said his Russian counterpart and close ally Vladimir Putin wants to host an Israeli-Palestinian summit to revive peace talks, in an interview published Monday.
Sisi told state newspaper editors that he believed Israel was increasingly convinced of the need for a peace deal, saying it was a positive sign.
But Palestinian infighting between the Islamist Hamas rulers of Gaza and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbass Fatah in the West Bank remained an obstacle, he said in the interview.
Talks between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Abbas have been suspended since 2014, despite a push by Washington and France to resume the peace process.
Sisi, who is seen as having good ties with both Israel and Abbass Palestinian Authority, has also been pushing for a resumption of negotiations.
Putin has told me that he is ready to receive both (Abbas) and Netanyahu in Moscow to carry out direct talks to find a solution and solve the issue, Sisi said.
I see that the conviction of the importance of peace is rising among the Israeli side, and the conviction about finding an exit to the issue is a positive sign.
At the same time, it is important to end the Palestinian-Palestinian rift... and to have national reconciliation between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas so that the climate be ready for real efforts to establish a state, he said.
