Radar Armenia's interlocutor is Iranologist Zhanna Vardanyan.
-Yesterday, in Shushi's speech, Ilham Aliyev also referred to Iran and, referring to the recent military exercises on the Iranian-Azerbaijani border, said that they are not afraid of anyone. What did those statements mean?
- First, it should be noted that after the 2020 Karabakh war, Iran-Azerbaijan relations have become quite tense. That tension reached its peak in 2021. August-October and also now. The reason for the tension is Iran's clear position regarding the territorial integrity of Armenia and, in particular, the maintenance of the Armenian-Iranian border, the creation of the "Zangezur Corridor". As for Aliyev's statement, Azerbaijan threatens in this way that even Iran's position will not stop them from opening the "Zangezur Corridor", and if necessary, they will also use force. On the other hand, Azerbaijan, taking advantage of the situation created in Iran, is trying to create as many problems as possible for Tehran, including activating the thesis about "Southern Azerbaijan". In this way, Baku expects that if Iran gets stuck in internal problems, it will not be able to pay attention and respond urgently to the developments taking place in the region.
- Official Iran responded to Aliyev's statements, noting that Iran never strengthens its ties with one neighbor to the detriment of another. It also condemned the "occupation of Azerbaijani territories". What is the motivation of Iran, according to you, when it congratulates Azerbaijan on the 2020 for victory in the war, on the other hand, reacts like this.
- This approach of Iran is not new. Iran also congratulated Azerbaijan on 2020. after the war. Although Azerbaijan's victory was not beneficial to Tehran, the Iranian side has always officially advocated "returning the occupied territories to Azerbaijan". Tehran declares that respecting the territorial integrity of all countries is a necessity, and this is because Iran itself has a problem maintaining territorial integrity. Iran shows this approach towards all its neighbors.
- In the reaction of the Iranian side, they also talked about the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations in the "3+3" format. How efficient and effective will the launch of this format be?
- Iran was the first country that welcomed the idea of creating the "3+3" format, and in order to implement it, the foreign minister of that country made a regional tour. For Iran, this is a very desirable format, as it fits into the framework of Tehran's foreign policy principle of solving regional issues with the help of regional countries. This mechanism is an opportunity for Iran to become a participant in the ongoing processes and decision-making related to them. In this way, Iran expects to neutralize the threats that threaten it. In this format, however, one match has been held so far, and in 3+2 format, as Georgia did not participate. As a matter of fact, no key issues were discussed at that meeting. Under these conditions, it does not claim to become a format for the regulation of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, because other formats operate in that direction.
Hayk Magoyan