Iran cites latent threats in region after Karabakh war

PanARMENIAN.Net - Iran welcomes Russia’s efforts towards a peace settlement of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, but notes that the region is still facing latent threats, Iranian parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Tuesday, February 9, according to TASS.

"If this conflict had continued, this could have affected security on the northern borders of Iran," the speaker said in a speech at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry. "We are glad that Russia was putting efforts into having this war end as soon as possible. But I think that the region faces latent threats," the Majlis speaker stressed, explaining that the presence of terrorist forces in that region should be prevented.

Ghalibaf said that the importance of establishing stable cooperation among the countries of the region was on the agenda. This would also open new possibilities for the development of relations between Iran and Russia, he stressed.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Russian and Azerbaijani Presidents Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliyev on November 9 signed a statement to end the war in Karabakh after almost 45 days. Under the deal, the Armenian side has returned all the seven regions surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, having lost a part of Karabakh itself in hostilities.