Russia has dismissed a suggestion from Washington that Moscow is violating a UN Security Council resolution by using an Iranian air base for its bombing raids on Syria.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday denied that Moscow could be in breach of a ban on supply or transfer of warplanes to Iran without prior approval of the United Nations Security Council.
"There are no grounds to suspect Russia of breaching the resolution," Lavrov said at a news conference in Moscow.
Russia on Tuesday began flying warplanes from an Iranian airbase in a major switch in its bombing campaign in Syria that the United States condemned as "unfortunate".
Washington responded to Lavrov's latest statements yesterday, saying it is evaluating Russia's actions.
"We're looking at, we're assessing it, we're assessing whether this would constitute a violation," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.
"It does require a very detailed, legal analysis," he said, adding, "but I stand by what I said yesterday, which is that fundamentally this isn't helpful."
Russian forces took off from the Iranian base to carry out a fresh round of strikes on yesterday morning.
Russia has previously flown raids only out of its bases in Syria and Russia.
On Tuesday, US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Russia's use of the Iranian base "could very well be a violation" of a UN Security Council resolution that requires its prior approval for the supply, sale or transfer of warplanes to Iran.
But Lavrov insisted that "in the case we are discussing now, there was neither the sale, nor supply, nor transfer of warplanes to Iran".
"These warplanes with the consent of Iran are being used by the Russian air force to participate in an anti-terrorism operation in Syria at the request of the legal Syrian authorities," he said.
"There's nothing even to discuss here."
Defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov suggested that Washington needed to brush up on the specifics of the resolution.
The US-led coalition's bombing raids on Syria from Turkey's Incirlik air base are not permitted by the United Nations charter, he added.
Russia sent Sukhoi Su-34 jets from the Hamedan base in western Iran on yesterday morning to carry out a second group wave of aerial strikes against IS targets in Deir Ezzor province, the defence ministry said, calling the operation a success.
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