Iran, Azerbaijan Discuss Escalating Tensions In Nagorno-Karabakh

Iran's Foreign Minister and his Azerbaijani counterpart discussed recent developments in the Caucasus, amid Baku's renewed military action in Nagorno-Karabakh.

According to Iranian state media, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and Jeyhun Bayramov had a telephone conversation on Tuesday.

During their conversation, they addressed the situation in Karabakh and the current conditions along the borders of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Iran has close ties with Armeina, which has a four-decade old conflict with Azerbaijan over Magorno-Karabakh, an Armeian-populated enclave inside Baku's international borders.

Azerbaijan shelled the region on Tuesday, a move that could potentially lead to a new conflict in this volatile area.

Baku justified its actions as necessary to restore constitutional order and remove Armenian military forces from the region. Karabakh is internationally recognized as Azerbaijani territory, but it is partially controlled by breakaway ethnic Armenian authorities who consider it their ancestral homeland. The region has been the focal point of two wars, the most recent in 2020, since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

It remains uncertain whether Baku's actions will escalate into a full-scale conflict involving neighboring Armenia or if they will remain a more limited military operation.

The conflict has the potential to alter the geopolitical dynamics of the South Caucasus region, which is intersected by crucial oil and gas pipelines. Iran has previously cautioned against any changes to the political landscape of the Caucasus region and the adjustment of international borders.

Iran has declared that if either side seeks to alter the geopolitical situation in the Caucasus or international borders in the Karabakh region, it will abandon its neutral stance and respond directly.