Tehran says peace within the Caucasus is vital however warns it won't tolerate a hall sought by Baku and Ankara.
Tehran, Iran – Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has held high-level talks in Tehran after a trilateral assembly with Russian and Azerbaijani leaders on combating within the Caucasus area.
Pashinyan was formally obtained by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Tuesday morning, and the 2 held talks on the Saadabad Palace within the capital Tehran.
In a joint press convention following the assembly, the Iranian president mentioned Tehran is “delicate” concerning the Caucasus area as a result of it has been a part of Iranian historical past, civilisation and tradition, and safety and peace throughout the area are vital for Iran.
“Our negotiations with Mr Pashinyan led to the conclusion that resolving the problems of the area should happen by the hands of the officers and authorities of the area, and any interference by foreigners will solely create issues reasonably than clear up them,” Raisi mentioned.
Pashinyan mentioned he agrees with Raisi concerning the area’s capability to realize sustainable peace and safety, and needs for Iranian authorities to be totally knowledgeable concerning the contents of Armenia’s talks with Azerbaijan and Turkey on the contested area of Nagorno-Karabakh.
On this vein, he mentioned, he mentioned with the Iranian president what transpired a day earlier within the Black Sea Russian metropolis of Sochi, the place he sat down with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
Following the assembly on Monday, Putin had mentioned the talks had been “very helpful” however the different two leaders would nonetheless must resolve lingering factors of disagreement that he didn't disclose.
Baku and Yerevan “agreed to not use drive” and to “settle all disputes solely on the premise of recognition of mutual sovereignty and territorial integrity” in a joint assertion launched following the Sochi assembly.
The 2 have been at odds for many years over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is internationally recognised as a part of Azerbaijan however is populated by ethnic Armenians.
Azerbaijan regained management over a lot of the area after a bloody six-week conflict in 2020 that ended with a Russian-brokered peace settlement.
However combating once more broke out between the 2 ex-Soviet nations’ forces final month, with greater than 200 troopers killed in a number of days.
Iran’s ‘pink line’
Iran, which has borders with each nations, has been calling for an finish to the combating.
Iranian Overseas Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian had a cellphone name together with his counterpart from Azerbaijan ally Turkey late on Monday, throughout which they mentioned tensions within the Caucasus.
However Tehran has firmly rejected strikes by Baku and Ankara geared toward creating a brand new transport hyperlink connecting Azerbaijan’s exclave of Nakhchivan with the Azerbaijani mainland, a route the 2 have branded the “Zanzegur hall”.
Prime Iranian authorities have repeatedly mentioned any efforts to alter Iran’s borders or transit hyperlinks with Armenia would represent crossing a “pink line” that Tehran wouldn't tolerate.
In a transfer in help of this assertion, Iran in late October grew to become the primary nation to set up a diplomatic mission within the southernmost Armenian province of Syunik, opening a consulate normal in Kapan, which is wanted by Baku and Ankara for his or her hall.
Iranian armed forces additionally held a number of days of wide-ranging army workouts in border areas with Azerbaijan and Armenia on the similar time.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) confirmed footage of constructing a pontoon bridge over part of the Aras River for the primary time to move its forces and arms over to a northern half – which was nonetheless on Iranian soil regardless of the river marking elements of the border between the 2 nations.
Boosting ties with Armenia
Tehran has additionally been more and more vocal about its curiosity in bolstering bilateral ties with Armenia.
Pashinyan’s go to to Tehran on Tuesday was additionally partly geared toward advancing this objective, with the Armenian chief saying a lot of the talks with Raisi handled bettering financial and commerce relations.
“We had talks about vitality, agriculture, infrastructures and managing water assets, and we have to conclude the negotiations and critically comply with up on them,” he mentioned.
Pashinyan additionally invited Raisi to go to Yerevan for additional negotiations.
Raisi, for his half, mentioned Iran desires to extend the extent of annual bilateral commerce with Armenia to $3bn.
The amount of commerce between the 2 stood at about $500m final yr, in response to a neighborhood media interview earlier this yr with Hervik Yarijanian, the pinnacle of the Iran-Armenia Joint Chamber of Commerce.
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