TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran’s embassy in the Republic of Azerbaijan has dismissed reports by certain media outlets about the transfer of Russian arms to Armenia via the Islamic Republic.
Reports by some media about the transfer of Russian weapons and other military equipment to Armenia through Iran’s Norduz border crossing are false, the embassy said in a statement on Monday, Press TV reported.
The statement referred to the circulation of such news as an act of sabotage by those who oppose close relations between Iran and Azerbaijan with the purpose of undermining the developing cooperation and friendship between the two countries.
Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but is being controlled by ethnic Armenians since 1990s.
Azerbaijan and Armenia have for decades been locked in a simmering conflict over the mountainous region.
Iran, as a neighboring country of the two former Soviet republics, has on numerous occasions reiterated its stance on the importance of finding a peaceful solution to the unsolved dispute.
Some 30,000 people were killed in the conflict, which ended with a fragile truce in 1994. The two sides are still technically at war and have yet to reach a permanent peace agreement on the issue.
A flare-up of violence between the two neighbors began on July 12 following exchanges of fire between the countries’ forces. The two sides traded accusations of cease-fire violations and shelling.
More than a dozen Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers were killed in the clashes between the two former Soviet republics, which have long been at odds over Nagorno-Karabakh.
On July 27, Iranian President’s Chief of Staff Mahmoud Vaezi called for a peaceful solution to the dispute erupted between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Karabakh region.
In a telephone conversation with Foreign Policy Advisor to President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Hikmat Hajiyev, the Iranian official said Tehran’s formal stance on the conflicts and disputes is “supporting the territorial integrity and sovereignty” of the nations.
“Tensions in the region would certainly not be in the interest of any country, and we favor stability, development and progress for all countries, particularly the Republic of Azerbaijan,” he added.
- source : Iran Daily
