Defense Minister's Letter to Larijani: There Was a Misunderstanding, My Statements Did Not Undermine the Dignity and Position of the Parliament

Following criticism of statements made by Hossein Dehghan, Iran's Defense Minister, who said that the use of Russian aircraft from the Hamadan airbase was not related to the Parliament, he expressed regret over the misunderstanding in a letter to Ali Larijani, the Speaker of Parliament, on Tuesday. According to Iranian media citing the Defense Ministry's Public Relations Office, Hossein Dehghan stated: "While expressing regret over the misunderstanding, it is clarified that what I said in no way undermined the dignity and position of the Parliament or its representatives; rather, my intention was that such a decision does not require parliamentary approval." The Russian Air Force's operations from Iranian soil against positions of Bashar al-Assad's opponents were first revealed on August 17 by the Russian Defense Ministry, which announced that long-range Tupolev 22 bombers and Su-34 fighter-bombers were used from the Nojeh airbase in Hamadan to attack targets in Syria. Following the news of Russia's use of the Nojeh airbase for attacks in Syria, several members of Parliament reacted, and one representative issued a constitutional warning in this regard in the open session. In response to this criticism, Hossein Dehghan stated: "The use of Russian aircraft from Iranian airbases is not related to the Parliament. If someone has mistakenly interpreted that we have given a military base in Iran to Russia and that this action is against the Constitution, they have misunderstood, as we have not given any base to Russia, and the action taken was a decision of the system and the Supreme National Security Council." In reaction to these statements, Ali Larijani said on Tuesday that it is necessary to remind the Defense Minister that he did not speak correctly about the Parliament and that he should have observed the decorum of governance in these matters. Following this criticism, on Tuesday, Hossein Dehghan, in his letter to Ali Larijani, stated that he is aware of the dignity and position of the Islamic Consultative Assembly in the Constitution, the positions and views of Ayatollah Khomeini and the current leader, and that during the tenth government, he had comprehensive interaction and cooperation with the Parliament and its representatives at the highest level. The Defense Minister has requested the Speaker of Parliament to appropriately inform the members of Parliament of the contents of this letter. However, the issue of Russia's use of the Nojeh airbase remains ambiguous. While the spokesperson for the Russian Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday that all active Russian fighter jets at the Nojeh airbase in Hamadan have returned to their bases in Russia, the United States has expressed doubts about the cessation of Russian fighter jets' use of the Hamadan airbase. In this context, Ali Shamkhani, the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of the Islamic Republic, on Tuesday, September 2, defended Iran's action of allowing Russia to fly from Nojeh, claiming that Russian forces are no longer present in Iran.