Enhanced Tehran-Baku ties serve two countries' interests: Iran FM

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has expressed confidence that the development of relations between Iran and Azerbaijan would serve the interests of both countries.

Addressing a joint press conference with his Azeri counterpart, Elmar Mammadyarov, in Baku on Monday, Zarif added that the two sides exchanged views on ways to improve economic and political ties, international cooperation as well as multilateral relations involving the two neighbors.

He said extremism is the main problem in the region, adding, “We will stand by the Azerbaijan Republic to counter such major challenges.”

Iran seeks the establishment of stability in the region and emphasizes that all problems should be settled peacefully through dialog and respect for international rights, he added.

The Iranian minister described the Caspian Sea as the region of “friendship and cooperation” and said Tehran and Baku should cooperate in this region in accordance with their common interests.

Karabakh dispute

Zarif further stressed the importance of international law, respect for territorial integrity and avoidance of force in settling the decades-old dispute on the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Since the outbreak of the problem, Iran has moved to help the people in Azerbaijan while trying to find a solution to the dispute, he noted.

Both Azerbaijan and Armenia claim the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is largely populated by Armenians but located in Azerbaijan.

Ethnic Armenian forces took control of the enclave which accounts for 16 percent of Azerbaijan in the early 1990s during a six-year war with the country that took place from February 1988 to May 1994.

The conflict left an estimated 30,000 people dead and one million displaced before the two sides agreed to a ceasefire in 1994. However, a peace accord has never been signed and the dispute still remains unsettled.

Iran has on several occasions offered to intervene in the dispute.

Iran-Azerbaijan economic ties

The Azeri foreign minister, for his part, stressed the importance of bolstering economic cooperation with Iran and tripartite ties with Turkey.

Mammadyarov said deputy foreign ministers of the Caspian Sea littoral states are scheduled to hold a meeting in Baku in March.

On the sidelines of the meeting, representatives of Iran and Azerbaijan plan to find a positive solution over the sea’s legal regime.

Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, the Republic of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan are the littoral states of the Caspian Sea.

The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water by area, and is variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea.

The issue of the Caspian Sea’s legal regime has gained importance following the breakup of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the emergence of newly independent states.

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