Iran speaker welcomes Russia’s efforts in Karabakh, points to latent threats in the region

MOSCOW, February 9./TASS/. Iran welcomes Russia’s efforts towards a peace settlement of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, but notes that the region is still facing latent threats, Iranian parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Tuesday.

“If this conflict had continued, this could have affected security on the northern borders of Iran,” the speaker said in a speech at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry. “We are glad that Russia was putting efforts into having this war end as soon as possible. But I think that the region faces latent threats,”the Majlis speaker stressed, explaining that the presence of terrorist forces in that region should be prevented.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said that the importance of establishing stable cooperation among the countries of the region was on the agenda. This would also open new possibilities for the development of relations between Iran and Russia, he stressed.

Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

On November 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh starting from November 10. Under the document, the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides stopped at the positions that they had held and Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the engagement line in Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Lachinsky corridor that connects Armenia with the enclave to exercise control of the ceasefire observance. Apart from that, a number of districts came over to Baku’s control.

The situation in Nagorno-Karabakh stabilized following the deployment of peacekeepers. Tens of thousands of people who had to flee the region because of hostilities have returned to their homes.