Iran urges Azerbaijan, Armenia to exercise restraint, find peaceful solution to clashes

Iran has voiced concern over the latest border clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia, urging the two neighbors to exercise restraint and find a peaceful solution to their differences in accordance with international law.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kan’ani said on Tuesday that the country would not accept any change in geographical borders between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

He said Iran closely monitors all the developments pertaining to the issue and underlined the need to respect the territorial integrity of the two countries.

Kan’ani also expressed Tehran’s readiness to help the two Caucasian states settle their dispute through peaceful channels.

Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry announced in the early hours of Tuesday that a number of its forces have been killed in the exchange of fire with Armenian forces along the two countries’ border.

It accused Armenia of “large-scale subversive acts” near the districts of Dashkesan, Kelbajar and Lachin on the border, adding that its army positions “came under fire, including from trench mortars.”

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Tuesday that at least 49 of the country’s troops were killed in the clashes with Azerbaijan, the worst fighting between the arch foes since their 2020 war over the disputed Karabakh region.

Tensions between Yerevan and Baku remain relatively high nearly two years after the arch-foes fought a war over the disputed Karabakh region.

SS