“Extra-regional countries” must not be allowed to intervene in disputes in the South Caucasus, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi told Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in a phone call late on Wednesday.
“Care must be taken that the Caucasus region does not become a field of competition for extra-regional countries and that its issues are handled by the countries of the region and without the interference of outsiders,” Raisi was quoted by his office as saying.
Raisi thus reaffirmed Iran’s strong opposition to Western presence in the region, which is shared by Russia. He described it as “harmful for regional peace and stability” during an October 23 meeting with Armenia’s visiting Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan.
Mirzoyan travelled to Tehran to attend a multilateral meeting with his Azerbaijani, Iranian, Russian and Turkish counterparts held there within the framework of the so-called “Consultative Regional Platform 3+3” launched in December 2021 in Moscow. Georgia continues to boycott the platform, citing continuing Russian occupation of its breakaway regions.
Amid its deepening rift with Moscow, Pashinian’s government is now pinning hopes on Western efforts to broker an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal. Russian officials claim that the main aim of those efforts is to drive Russia out of the South Caucasus, rather than bring peace to the region.
Yerevan is also seeking to deepen Armenia’s ties with the United States and the European Union. In September, it hosted a joint U.S.-Armenian military exercise criticized by Moscow and Tehran.
According to the official Armenian readout of Pashinyan’s call with Raisi, the two leaders discussed Armenian-Iranian relations and the implementation of bilateral economic agreements. Raisi’s office said in this regard that he “expressed satisfaction with the process of developing relations and implementing agreements between the two countries.”
Source: Azatutyun.am
