On Wednesday, Mahmoud Vaezi, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s chief of staff, told Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister, Shahin Mustafayev, that Iran recognises Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity as it reiterated calls to peacefully resolve the deadly clash with Armenia over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region through talks.
“The stance of the Islamic Republic on Azerbaijan has always been clear and transparent as it has always recognised the neighbouring country’s territorial integrity and respected it,” Mahmoud Vaezi told Shahin Mustafayev over a phone call.
“We believe the end of occupation will bring stability to the region,” Mahmoud Vaezi said, as quoted by the government’s website.
Separately, over a phone call on Wednesday, Iranian President Rouhani urged Armenia to hold dialogue and work towards ending the conflict.
“Our region can no longer take instability and new wars,” Rouhani said.
“Our wish is to immediately stop the clashes and for us all to resolve the region’s issues through political discourse and international laws.”
It is important to mention that Iran shares borders with both, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Vaezi, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s chief of staff, reiterated that Azerbaijan has a salient place in Iranian foreign policy.
He further said that Iran was ready to act as a mediator in order to begin negotiations “within the framework of international laws”.
Vaezi, in the phone call with Azerbaijan’s deputy prime minister also slammed rumours regarding Iran sending arms and military equipment to Armenia.
“These are completely baseless rumours spread to tarnish good relations between Iran and Azerbaijan,” Vaezi said.
The trucks had been carrying “conventional, non-military goods”, Vaezi stated.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a 30-year-old conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region since the war of 1994 ended.
Though a ceasefire was agreed on post the 1994 war, Azerbaijan and Armenia continue to accuse each other of shooting attacks, ceasefire violations, and shelling around Nagorno-Karabakh and along the separate Azeri-Armenian frontier.
The conflict re-erupted again on Sunday and caused some of the heaviest clashes in years. The overall death toll has now reached 95, with 11 civilians killed since Sunday; nine in Azerbaijan and two in Armenian.