Azatutyun.am. The Iranian ambassador in Yerevan, Mehdi Sobhani, on Thursday reaffirmed Iran’s strong support for Armenia’s territorial integrity, saying that any violation of it is unacceptable to Tehran.
“We have always supported Armenia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and anything that causes a violation of Armenia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity is not acceptable for us,” Sobhani told reporters.
Asked what concrete action Iran will take in case of such a violation, he said: “It won’t be violated.”
The remarks came amid Azerbaijan’s renewed demands for an extraterritorial corridor to its Nakhichevan exclave that would pass through Syunik, the sole Armenian province bordering Iran. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Wednesday that people and cargo transported to and from Nakhichevan must be exempt from Armenian border controls.
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Last week, a Turkish government minister said that new roads and railways needed for the functioning of that corridor should be built by 2029. The Iranian Foreign Ministry responded by repeating its strong opposition to “geopolitical changes” in the South Caucasus.
Iran has repeatedly warned against attempts to strip it of the common border and transport links with Armenia. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi reportedly told a visiting Azerbaijani official last October that the “Zangezur corridor” sought by Baku is “resolutely opposed” by the Islamic Republic.
Raisi spoke less than two weeks after Azerbaijan’s recapture of Nagorno-Karabakh which raised more fears in Yerevan that Baku will also attack Armenia to open the corridor.
Andranik Kocharian, the chairman of the Armenian parliament committee on defense and security, did not rule out the possibility of such an attack when he spoke to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Thursday. He said the Armenian government is reinforcing “every day” the county’s capacity to repel it.