Iran hopes Armenia and Azerbaijan will resolve border crisis peacefully

Iran hopes that the latest disputes in the Syunik Province border zones and especially in the Kapan-Goris road section will be resolved in a way that the implementation of the goal of reopening the transportation routes and unblocking won’t be disrupted, the Iranian Embassy in Armenia said in response to an inquiry from ARMENPRESS.

The Iranian embassy said that since the new delimitation issue between Armenia and Azerbaijan entered the agenda Tehran has been hopeful that the sides will urgently reach the kind of a mutually-acceptable solution that would ensure the normal course of relations between Armenia and its neighbors, with minimum consequences. The embassy mentioned that the reopening of regional transportation routes and unblocking was one of the main clauses of the Armenia-Russia-Azerbaijan statements.

Tehran hopes that the disputes between Armenia and Azerbaijan over delimitation will be solved in peaceful atmosphere without any tension or disruption in communication routes.

“We hope that the sides will resolve the latest disagreements in the Syunik province’s border zones and especially the Kapan-Goris road section in a way that the implementation of the goal of reopening of transportation routes and unblocking won’t be disrupted. Unfortunately, in the past two days we are witnessing a disruption of transit through this road as a result of the latest developments in the Syunik province, which has caused problems not only for the normal life of Armenia’s civilian population, but also a number of Iranian cargo vehicles carrying out shipments from Iran to Armenia. Due to the difficulty of the existing situation at this road’s 21 kilometer section it is required for the sides to make efforts within the framework of goodwill principle in the direction of ensuring normal course of communication and transit, until reaching an exact and concrete situation over this matter. Thus, we still hope that the disputes related to the general delimitation between Armenia and Azerbaijan will be solved in a peaceful environment without any tension or disruption in communication routes,” the Iranian embassy said.

In relation to the importance of guaranteeing the normal course of communication, the Iranian side stressed that they have always expressed their viewpoints to the authorized bodies of Armenia.

“We are hopeful that parallel to the ongoing negotiations over solving the existing disputes regarding the use of the Kapan-Goris route, the improvement and development works of alternative routes will swiftly take place, so that the conditions return to normal both from perspective of Armenia’s citizens and our commercial relations with Armenia,” the Iranian embassy said.

The Azeri military is keeping the Karmrakar-Shurnukh section of the Kapan-Goris Armenian interstate highway blocked since August 25. The Azeri forces also blocked the Goris-Vorotan road.

The National Security Service of Armenia said on August 27 that the Armenian Border Guards and the Russian Border Guards are holding joint negotiations with the Azeri military to reopen the road.

The roadblock has also impacted Iranian cargo shipments. Economy Minister of Armenia Vahan Kerobyan told reporters that Iranian cargo trucks have problems in reaching Yerevan because of the roadblock.