President Raeisi: Iran ready to help establish peace in Caucasus

President Ebrahim Raeisi has told Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian that Iran is ready to use all its capacities to establish peace and stability in the Caucasus region and help its growth and development.

In a phone conversation Wednesday, Raeisi described relations between the two countries as historical and deep, emphasizing the necessity of planning to increase the level of sustainable economic cooperation between Tehran and Yerevan.

The Iranian president touched on the recent border skirmishes between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops, saying the "adherence of the signatories of the tripartite ceasefire statement to its provisions and solving the remaining issues through dialogue and diplomatic solutions is the best way to create peace and security in the Caucasus region", the Tasnim news agency reported.

The tripartite statement was signed by President Pashinian and his Azerbaijani and Russian counterparts Ilham Aliyev and Vladimir Putin in November 2020 for a "complete ceasefire and termination of all hostilities in the area of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict" following a 44-day war.

Under the ceasefire, Armenia undertook to return the districts of Aghdam, Lachin and Kalbajar to Azerbaijan after about 30 years and "guarantee the security of transport connections between the western regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic in order to arrange unobstructed movement of persons, vehicles and cargo in both directions".  

Azerbaijan undertook to "guarantee the security of persons, vehicles and cargo moving along the Lachin Corridor in both directions".

Under the ceasefire agreement, the peacekeeping forces of Russia consisting of 1,960 troops armed with firearms, 90 armored vehicles and 380 motor vehicles and units of special equipment were deployed along the contact line in Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Lachin Corridor.

The parties also agreed that "new transport links shall be built to connect the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and the western regions of Azerbaijan", but the condition has turned to a new bone of contention between the warring side, with Baku demanding that Yerevan make way for the establishment of a corridor which the latter refuses. 

President Raeisi on Wednesday evening touched on the "strategic statements" of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei during his meetings with the presidents of Russia and Turkey last month regarding the sensitivity of the Islamic Republic of Iran towards its borders in the Caucasus region and confronting any attempt to change them.

"Iran does not accept any changes in the political geography of the region and is ready to use all its capacities to establish peace and stability in the Caucasus region and its growth and development," the Iranian president said.

The Armenian prime minister gave a detailed report on the recent conflicts between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the telephone conversation.

Pashinian also expressed his satisfaction with the development of Tehran-Yerevan relations and emphasized his country's readiness to facilitate the transit of goods between the two countries and to increase cooperation in the fields of infrastructure, including road and energy.

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