Iran Offers Help in Keeping Peace in South Caucasus
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The president of Iran expressed Tehran’s readiness to contribute to the efforts at peace in the South Caucasus region.
In separate messages to the Armenian president and prime minister on Thursday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi congratulated the northwestern neighbor on its Independence Day, which marks the anniversary of Armenia’s independence from the Soviet Union through a referendum held in 1991.
In the message to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Raisi said Iran favors improved security, convergence and welfare in the South Caucasus region according to the policy of good neighborliness.
He also expressed Tehran’s readiness to employ all of its capacities to ensure the establishment of sustainable peace and stability in the South Caucasus.
On Tuesday, the Republic of Azerbaijan launched a military operation in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, accusing the Armenian-backed forces there of "systematic" shelling, "reconnaissance activities," fortification of defensive positions, and "high-level of combat readiness."
Later, however, the separatist Armenian forces reported that mediation by the command of the Russian peacekeeping contingent stationed in the region had resulted in both sides agreeing to the truce.
The two sides also said that talks on the reintegration of the breakaway region into the rest of Azerbaijan, which is internationally recognized as having sovereignty over the territory, would be held in the Azeri city of Yevlakh on Thursday.
