DM: Iran Open to Help Settle Nagorno-Karabakh Crisis
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s defense minister voiced the country’s readiness to help resolve a conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran will spare no effort for the settlement of this crisis,” Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan told his Azeri counterpart Zakir Hasanov in a telephone conversation on Monday morning.
The Iranian minister also reiterated the call for restraint by Baku and Yerevan, stressing that the disputes should be resolved in a peaceful manner.
It was the second conversation between Dehqan and Hasanov in just two days.
Earlier on Sunday, Dehqan talked by phone with Armenia and Azerbaijan’s defense ministers, calling on the two sides to show restraint and settle disputes via peaceful negotiations.
At least 30 soldiers have been killed in fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces along the frontlines of the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Each side blames the other for the fighting.
Azerbaijan said on Saturday that Armenian forces killed 12 of its soldiers and shot down a helicopter.
Azeri troops, meanwhile, killed 18 ethnic-Armenian soldiers, Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian said.
On Sunday, Baku announced a unilateral ceasefire in its conflict with Armenia.
Nagorno-Karabakh has been under the control of Armenian military and separatists since a war between Armenia and Azerbaijan ended in 1994. Years of negotiations have brought little progress in resolving the dispute.
Fighting on Saturday marked the worst clashes since 1994, said David Babayan, spokesman for the region's separatist president.
