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The new Iranian foreign minister who held talks in Moscow stated that Tehran “will not tolerate geopolitical changes and map changes in the Caucasus.”
Iran has “expressed serious concern” about Israel’s presence in the Caucasus, as tensions between Iran and Azerbaijan have escalated over the relationship between Baku and Israel, the main weapons supplier.
Iran’s new foreign minister, Hussein Amirabdorahian, who is in talks with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov in Moscow, said on Wednesday that Iran “will certainly not tolerate geopolitical changes and map changes in the Caucasus”.
“We are very worried about the presence of terrorists and Zionists in the area,” Amirabdorahian told reporters in Moscow.
Since mid-September, the tension between Iran and Azerbaijan has been severe, and the two countries have a 700-kilometer (430-mile) border.
After 44 days of war between Azerbaijan and Armenia last year, the Iranian army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) recently mobilized troops and conducted military exercises near its northwest border with Azerbaijan.
In response, Azerbaijan and Turkey began joint military exercises on Wednesday.
‘Baseless accusations’
The day before the start of the exercise, Amirabdorahian told his Azerbaijani colleagues that Iran would not tolerate the presence or activities of Israel “near our border” and vowed to take any necessary actions.
Aliyev said on Tuesday that Baku “will not fail to answer” Tehran’s “baseless” accusations that Israel has stationed troops on its territory.
Iran’s Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said on Tuesday that the representative office of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Baku had been closed by Azerbaijani officials.
The Iranian state-run news media later denied the report, saying that only one religious gathering center was closed due to the COVID-19 agreement.
Before meeting with Lavrov, Amirabdorahian stated that Iran wants Russia to “be sensitive to any potential changes in the borders of the entire region and be sensitive to the existence of terrorists and Zionism that threaten regional peace and stability. The movement of the regime remains sensitive.”
Iran-Russia relations
Prior to the talks with Lavrov, Amirabdorahian stated that as the administration of President Ebrahim Raisi seeks to rapidly expand relations across the region, Iran is “a great leap forward” in relations with Russia. .
Amirabdorahian added that he expects negotiations on the Iranian nuclear agreement to resume in Austria soon.
He said: “I emphasize that we are now completing negotiations on this matter and will resume our negotiations in Vienna soon.”
The Interfax news agency reported citing “signals” that Amirabdorashian Tehran had received to show that Washington, which had abandoned the 2015 nuclear agreement during the previous administration, is again interested in implementing the agreement.
Amirabdorahian stated that the new Iranian government is still reviewing the records of the six rounds of talks that ended in Vienna on July 20.
Additional reporting by Maziar Motamedi in Tehran
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