The airstrike from Iran was was intended to serve a diplomatic purpose, not a military one:
The Russian military said on Monday its aircraft operating from an Iranian air base to conduct strikes in Syria had completed their tasks, but left open the possibility of using the Hamadan base again if circumstances warranted.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Russia had stopped using the base for strikes in Syria, bringing an abrupt halt to an unprecedented deployment that was criticized both by the White House and by some Iranian lawmakers.
“Russian military aircraft that took part in the operation of conducting air strikes from Iran’s Hamadan air base on terrorist targets in Syria have successfully completed all tasks,” a Russian Defence Ministry spokesman, Major-General Igor Konashenkov, said in a statement.
“Further use of the Hamadan air base in the Islamic Republic of Iran by the Russian Aerospace Forces will be carried out on the basis of mutual agreements to fight terrorism and depending on the prevailing circumstances in Syria,” Konashenkov said.
While the use of the recent use of the Hamedan air base in Iran might be more convenient than flying from Russian bases, there is very little military utility for a one off deployment like this.
This was a demonstration by Iran and Russia of a changes in the Middle East order, and it certainly has folks at the Pentagon and Foggy Bottom sitting up and noticing.
Meh..people making more out of that than need be..Putin is still trying to aggravate obama for setting the embargo. Ya know for the Ukraine problem. Providing the weapon that shot down an airliner..little stuff like that. Bitched slapped by the Olympic committee..this stuff irritates Putin. So we get close flybys from the Russian aar force..meddling in Syria beyond what they said they would. And now a temp air base in Iran..Remember Iran? Sanctions hurt their political base…people wanted western stuff.
Maybe thats where the russkys found common ground with the ayatollah..both spanked by Obama…my man.