© Photo: Maria Novoselova/Vestnik Kavkaza
Iranian Ambassador to the Russian Federation Kazem Jalali told Vestnik Kavkaza about Tehran's opinion on introducing EU structures into the South Caucasus region. He called on regional states to solve all existing problems independently, without the participation of external forces.
Tehran insists that the presence of extra-regional states in the South Caucasus is inadmissible, emphasizing that it will not benefit the region. The Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Russian Federation, Kazem Jalali, spoke about this when answering a question from Vestnik Kavkaza about expanding the “observation mission” of the European Union in Armenia.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has very good ties with neighboring countries. As far as the Caucasus region is concerned, we have positive relations with both Azerbaijan and Armenia. We have always told all our neighbors that the presence of extra-regional powers cannot be in the interests of our region. We believe that regional problems should be solved by regional states,” he said.
The Iranian Ambassador to Russia recalled the most effective format of intraregional cooperation –“3+3 platform. “Both Armenia and Azerbaijan agree to work in this format; together with Türkiye, Russia and Iran, they took an active part in the launch of this mechanism. We hope that Georgia will also join the 3+3 platform at the next meetings,” Kazem Jalali said .
“Iran has not only good ties with Azerbaijan and Armenia, but also a great desire to develop bilateral relations with all countries of our region. At the same time, we continue to insist that extra-regional forces are not beneficial to our countries,” the diplomatic representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran concluded.
