Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Baqeri says the country is ready to contribute to lowering tensions in the Caucasus region and send observers to the border regions between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
In a meeting with Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia, Armen Grigoryan, in Tehran Wednesday, Baqeri observed that developments in the South Caucasus affect the security of the region.
He said tensions in the area are neither in the interest of Yerevan and Baku, nor other regional countries, calling for appropriate measures to resolve disputes in the region.
Baqeri went on to express Iran’s preparedness to dispatch observers to the border regions between Armenia and Azerbaijan, emphasizing that there should not be any aggressive goal or intention behind improvement of the defense capabilities of any country.
“Peace and tranquility in the region are in the interest of all countries, and security in the region must be ensured by regional countries,” the Iranian military official said.
Baqeri also pointed to the recent joint military exercise between US soldiers and Armenian forces, stressing that the presence of trans-regional forces in the region threatens peace and will foster instability.
Grigoryan, for his part, briefed the chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces on the latest developments in the Caucasus region.
Azerbaijan took full control of the breakaway Karabakh region last month following a 24-hour military operation against pro-Armenian forces. Azerbaijan cited “systematic” shelling, “reconnaissance activities,” fortification of defensive positions, and “high-level of combat readiness” by Armenian-backed troops for its operation.
Karabakh, acknowledged as a part of Azerbaijan by the international community but populated by Armenians since 1992 when a separatist war broke out, has been at the center of a dispute between Baku and Yerevan for more than three decades.
