Iran Favors Political Solution to Karabakh Row
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Reiterating Iran’s opposition to any geopolitical changes in the region, the spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry expressed Tehran’s support for the political settlement of hostilities between Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Nasser Kanaani stressed the need to use the capacities of neighbors to establish peace and stability in the region.
Voicing Iran’s support for the resolution of disputes between Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan through political approaches, he said the Islamic Republic opposes the presence of outsiders in the region.
Iran rejects any change in the geopolitics or boundaries of the region, Kanaani underlined.
The conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region must be settled politically without any change in the regional borders, the spokesman stated.
He also noted that the Islamic Republic supports negotiations within the 3+3 platform, which includes Iran, Russia, Turkey and three South Caucasus nations.
The separatist government of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, backed by Armenia, said last week it would dissolve itself by the end of 2023 after a three-decade bid for independence.
The decision triggered a massive exodus by the ethnic Armenians.
The region and sizable surrounding territories came under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by the Armenian military at the end of a separatist war in 1994. But the Azerbaijan Republic regained the territories and parts of Nagorno-Karabakh itself after six weeks of fighting in 2020. The area is recognized internationally as part of Azerbaijan.
