Line and what stance has iran adopted in this regard . This and more on this edition of iran today. Of as the soviet union was collapsing, nagornokarabakh declared its independence with the intention of reunifying with armenia. A war ensued after the controversial declaration, tens of thousands of people were killed and hundreds of thousands were displaced. A seasfire in 1994 left armenia in control of the territory. A second war. Erupted in 2020, which claimed thousands of lives and displaced tens of thousands of people. This time azerbaijan recaptured much of the territory and its surroundings. The return of nagornokarabakh to azerbaijany control is likely to change the Power Dynamics in the south caucasus, a region that for centuries has been at the crossroad of geopolitical interest of russia, turkey, iran as well as western nations. Years of geopolitical rivalry accounts for the dispute between the two former soviet republics over nagornokarabakh. The region lies within azerbaijans internationally recognized borders and has been home to tens of thousands of Ethnic Armenians. Armenian separatist surrender could trigger instability in armenia where Prime MinisterNicole Pashinyan has sought to build closer ties with the west despite a military alliance with. In countries to solve its problems, but the armenian government should know that the americans and the french do not care about preserving the countrys territorial integrity. They are focused on undermining the influence of russia in armenia. They have such a plan and the peishinian government should know that it is making a big mistake. Russia and iran are the neighbors of armenia, and we have common interests with it, and neglecting these common interests and seeking help from american fronts, which do not care about preserving armenias territorial integrity. On the other hand, has been seeking to cement its military gains through blocking overland traffic between armenia and nagornokarabakh. Another person with great knowledge about caucasus is former Iranian Ambassador to baku. He told us about the complexity of the situation in the region. Today the priority. Is the liberation of karabakh, thats why it has blocked the lotching crossing that connects armenia to of karabak, thats because armenia sends weapons to the separatists of nagornokarabakh. The Islamic Republic of iran considers lachin in nagornokarabakh to be part of azerbaijan, but at the same time iran is interested in preserving the rights of the armenians in nagornokarabakh is interested in preventing humanitarian disaster in this region. Iran wants of the nagornokarabakh problem to be resolved peacefully through negotiations between armenia and azerbaijan. In other words, the Islamic Republic says that the territorial integrity of these two. Two countries should be maintained, the International Borders should not change, and the rights of the armenians should be protected. In this framework, iran is negotiating with both countries. Weve asked the republic of azerbaijan to be lenient towards the armenians of nagornokarabakh, who are citizens of this country, and we have also asked armenia to recognize the territorial integrity of azerbaijan. Nagornokarabakh has been the stage for various regional and international players, prominent among them, russia, turkey, the United States and some European Countries. Russia has long played a central role in the dispute, but the ukraine war has adversely affected this role, especially following bakus victory in september. Turkey, which sides with azerbaijan has been pursuing assertive Foreign Policy in the region. The United States has long sought influence in the south caucasus and other states in the former soviet block. Thats while the European Union is mostly interested in azerbaijan as an Energy Partner that can make up at least partly for the loss of russian imports. But what about iran . As a neighbor, iran has always done its best to solve the conflict between azerbaijan and armenia over nagornokarabakh. In 1991, after the collapse the former soviet union, 15 soviet republics including azerbaijan and armenia broke away, but both newly established states had border claims over the nagornokarabakh region. Iran has tended to resolve the nagornokarabakh conflict peacefully. Over the past decades the iranian governments have tried to play the role of mediator in the karabac conflict, most notably in the 1990s. This is mr. Darry safarnejad, an iranian expert in eurasian issues and international relations. Mr. Safarnjad told us that iran opposes separatism of any kind. ما دری 30 سال گذشت. Over the last 30 years every year in december, in the un General Assembly, there have been two votes agarno karabag, one that the Un Security Council authorizes, the organization for security and cooperation europe to mediate the peace in karabakh. The other one is the resolution that baku proposes every year that karabagh is in the territorial framework of azerbaijan. In the last 30 years, the Islamic Republic has officially given two votes in favor of azerbaijan every year, that is, we have given 60 votes only in the United Nations. Weve voted the same in the organization of islamic cooperation in the Nonalignment Movement and other forums as well. Our official. In october 1993 during the war, the then president of iran Akbar Hashemi rafsanjani traveled to baku and had frequent private meetings with the then other president heydar aliyev. The rafsanni administration arranged host of bilateral and trilateral meetings with azari and armenian sides to hammer out a peace plan to end military confrontation between baku and in the 1990s. In its official statements, iranian governments have always called for peaceful settlement and restraint during skirmishes. At the same time, the officials have repeatedly reaffirmed their support for azerbaijans territorial integrity. Tehrans decision came after the United NationsGeneral Assembly adopted a resolution which reaffirmed azerbaijans territorial integrity on march 14th. 2008, the resolution expressed support for bakus internationally recognized borders and demanded the immediate withdraw of all Armenian Forces from all occupied territories there. However, iran has time and again warned that yearwans National Sovereignty must also be respected by the azary side and tehran will not tolerate any change in the geopolitical borders of the caucasus region as its red line. That shares a border with all parties to the dispute has the right to monitor the situation and to be aware of the progress of the affairs. After all, weve been present in syria for 13 years to prevent takfies and daesh from being present in our neighborhood, but today we see that with the leadership of nato, forces have been brought in the region for three years. Theyve settled in the south of the south caucasus dressing the uniforms of the azerbaijani army. In addition, we see that extra rich. And for years it has sent a large amount of weapons to the region and exchange for the oil that the regime buys from azerbaijan. Historically, the Islamic Republic of iran is obliged to defend south caucasus people, their rights and their territorial integrity in azerbaijan or armenia, regardless of who they are ruled by. نباید مرز های منطقه تغییر. The International Borders of the region should not be changed. Iran recognizes these borders and the sovereignty of countries and their territorial integrity. Iran considers itself obligated to protect the principles of the un charter and International Law in the protection of International Borders in this region. Iran like the European Countries believes that the territorial integrity of armenia should be preserved. Although the europeans do not have acceptable record in the support of the rights and security of the armenians of. But for this purpose iran has established a consult in the province of sionic and in the city of kapan. European countries like france are now following suit and this shows that irans approach has been correct. Welcome to the news section of the program where we take a look at some news exerps from different news websites. Un Mission Arrives in nagornokarabakh for the first time in 30 years. According to euro news, the move comes as more than 100,000 people have fled the nagornokarabakh region equivalent to almost the entire population of the Ethnic Armenian enclave since azerbaijan seized the region last week. Azerbaijan is hungry for land. Armenians fear country will seek to grab more territory. The guardian writes, the locals believe after bakus success in nagornokarabakh, it could attempt to encroach farther. France will open consult in armenias tunic provides 7 Million Euros for nagornokarabakh. Public radio of armenia writes france will open a Consular Office in armenias Southern Province of stunic and allocate additional aid of 7 Million Euros to armenia and nagornokarabakh, foreign minister Katherine Colona said during a q a session in the parliament. This brings us to the end of this section. Please stay tuned as we go back to our main. Narrative, it means jacket, this jacket, ready, im lembatopic here on press tv, and i want you to join me for cats and dogs, the heavy show that makes light work and serious politics, thats press tv, cats and dogs, lembradopic, dont miss it for the Islamic Republic of iran, the socalled zangazure corridor situated on the border of armenia and azerbaijan has huge strategic importance. The zangezu carter also called the nahchivan, suonic or megri carter is a proposed transport carter that passes through armenia. Province, linking the republic of azerbaijan and the nachchivan autonomous republic. The corridor was conceptualized to pass through the valley of the aras river in the extreme south of armenia, along the border with iran, and to the west, it would continue to turkey which has a short border with nahchivan. To get more information about the significance of sionic, we talk to dr. Ahmad kazemi, an expert on the caucasus region. Dr. Is also the director of the applied researches department at the irib. Siyoning. As a province of armenia on the province bordering iran, sionic is considered geographical gap between the mainland of azerbaijan, nahchivan and turkey. From the time when orator called nachchivan as part of the socalled turkishward, they believe that sionic province has divided the turkishward into two parts, just like dager. Now turkey seeks to create an etnic corridor based on the idea of panturkism or pan turanism, it founds to be connected through its own land to azerbaijan, the caspiance and central asia through this corridor, therefore seonic is considered as a most important obstacle in the formation of the socalled turkish world, which can pose many threats to the origin and the world, including europe. They are after seonic and if they cannot take it through persuasion, they might take it by force, which is in the violation of un charter. They might occupy and form the socalled natos longisker corridor. Currently cionic province is in the frontline of preventing the geopolitical sedition pursued by ankaras new automanism doctrine. Since armenia and azerbaijan maintain a mutual traffic blockade due to longrunning tensions. Bakus connection with nahchivan for decades has been iran and the connection with turkey has been georgia. The two countries have different views on the concept of the corridor, its definition, the existence of control points and the nationality of the guards who would control those points. Baku for instance has been asking for an unimpeded passage without checkpoints and when yeravan refused to. Do so, it threatend to implement the planned plan unilaterally, meaning through military intervention and occupation of southern armenia, which iran strongly opposes. Qafqas, as for the developments in the caucasus region, the position of the Islamic Republic of iran is fixed, clear position. Iran supports the territorial integrity of the caucasus countries, and is against the change of International Borders and wants the rights of. Minorities, including the armenians of karabak to be secured. The developments that are taking place in the caucasus today are due to the rumors that the republic of azerbaijan is seeking to seize armenias cionic province. Following this, tehran took a strong position and announced that it is against the change of International Borders and if this happens, azerbaijan has assured iran that it is not seeking to block the International Borders or change the. Geographical borders and during the visit of the iranian minister of Foreign AffairsAmir Abdullahian to baku, mr. Elham alief said, i dont even think about this. The Islamic Republic of iran welcomes the interconnection of transport routes in the caucasus and the wider region, without excluding any of its big or small neighbors, but strongly opposes changes in the status quo. Irans position on the inviolability of existing. Borders is nothing new, but part of the official principled approach already seen in a number of other cases in the region, including egypt, iraq, kuwait, lebanon, oman, qatar, palestine, syria, turkey and yemen. This position did not change regardless of the different status of bilateral relations with the mentioned countries. For the same reasons, iran today maintains good relations with. Russia, but recognizes the territorial integrity of georgia and ukraine. Azerbaijan is no exception because tehrans unchanging position is that nagornokarabakh is part of azerbaijan which was welcomed and praised by azerbaijans president alham aliyev. The idea that attempts to change borders continue in the south caucasus is unacceptable to tehran as it would fan the flames of revanshiist politics, excessive arming and feels news. Conflicts. Moreover, in the case of another war, irans transportation links with both countries will be cut off and tens of thousands of refugees may flood iran, as was already the case in the first war between azerbaijan and armenia. To tehran, this is another cause for concern. Iran has always advocated the peaceful reintegration of nagornokarabakh into azerbaijan while respecting the rights of the armenian minority and has carefully. In the 26 years of karabakh peace negotiations including the lisbon summit in 1996, the issue of autonomy of karabakh was raised and at that time azerbaijan accepted it. Well, now the question is what happened to the rights and security of the armenians. It is clear that after nine months of encirclement of the origin and the closure of lachen cor. Door, the only corridor of karabak to armenia and the outside world, and the force starvation the armenians of karabakh by azerbaijan, and after that the start of a large scale military attack, which has been dopped as the operation against terrorists, this situation has caused the armenians to leave the region because they consider azerbaijan as a government that hates them. The cooperation with both countries is focus on the construction of factories, dams, roads and other infrastructure as well as inclusion. And International Route to connect with the world. In march last year, iran and azerbaijan signed memorandum of understanding on further development of the existing iranian corridor to nahchivan. As an alternative to the carter through armenian territory. Another feature of irans approach in the region is the resolution of disputes through the three plus three format, that is three small countries, armenia, azerbaijan and georgia, and three larger countries, iran, russia and turkey without the involvement of foreign powers. Iran is actor that has always sought peace, stability and security in the region. What iran has proposed to solve the disputes in the region, is the 3 3 framework with the presence of all the countries of the region as well as their neighbors. On the other hand, turkey only supports azerbaijan. The turks are seeking to create the socalled zangezor corridor. They are supposed to do this by occupying the countrys territory, so turkey is not playing a constructive role in the region. Another actor is georgia, which is not an active actor, perhaps russia is most important actor in the region, and the problem with it is that russia is heavyly involved in the ukraine war. Moreover, iran is well aware of the decades long british and american plans of merging their sphere of interest across the caucases into central asia, which includes the forcible subjugation of all three smaller regional countries and the isolation of iran and russia. And europeans are generally not interested in ending this conflict, the reason is that they want russia to be isolated in the caucasus, and if this conflict comes to an end, there will be no reason for them to be present in the caucasus region, a joint military exercise was recently held by the United States and armenia, which we strongly opposed. Because iran believes that forces outside the region should not be present in the caucasus. The Israeli Regime is also against peace in the caucasus because it is currently selling weapons to azerbaijan as tensions are ratcheting up. As tensions escalate again between azerbaijan and armenia over the disputed territories, iranian officials have issued multiple warnings that they will not allow any border changes in the caucases. On september 3rd, after a meeting with his turkish counterpart, hakan fidan, Iranian Foreign minister hossain Amir Abdullahyan reiterated tehrans position that it will not tolerate any geopolitical changes in the caucasus region, including the change in borders. Six days later, after a phone conversation with armenian Prime MinisterNicole Pashinyan, iranian president ibrahim raisi said, tehran is ready to play an effective role in preventing new. Clashes and any change of historical borders in the disputed region. In a meeting between iranian leader and turkish president rajab tayib erdoghan on july 19th 2022, Ayatullah Khamenei made it clear that iran would never tolerate any alteration in the border line with armenia. The Islamic Republic of iran has staged several war games in the northwestern tip of the border with armenia and azerbaijan ever since to show that. In 2020 the leader of the Islamic Revolution clearly declared that karabau belongs to azerbaijan, so they took karabad back and now it is under their rule. Another point as the leadership announced is that the armenians leaves property and security should be protected. Now almost all of the 120,000 people in that region have completely fled the area. Tehrans next red line is that wahabi and takfury forces should not be around irans border, which is not happened yet, but in any case if karabag is completely under their control, and then they want to come to seonic, iran will react appropriately. Another redline is that the border between iran and armenia should not be cut off, and according to the leadership, this thousand year old communication route should remain open, which is why iran has given the necessary. Warnings to azerbaijan and turkey through diplomatic channels, the Islamic Republic has said many times that if they are making government is not serious about protecting irans border, the country is fully prepared to rely its own military force to protect the border. Thats all for today, thank you for watching from the whole team. I hope you found this edition informative and valuable. Please do tune in same time next week and each week after. Dont forget to leave us your comments and topic. Request, till next time, take care. Yesterday he was hold shouting that everybody should hear him clearly tomorrow. the headlines, former us House SpeakerKevin Mckarthy blast what he calls institutional problems in congress after being voted out of his job in an unprecedented move. German protesters rally against berlins military assistance to. Traine saying arm supply to key of risk escalation of the conflict with russia. 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