Iran against ‘turning South Caucasus into arena of geopolitical competition’

PanARMENIAN.Net - Iran is against turning the South Caucasus into an arena of geopolitical competition, a spokesman of the Iranian Foreign Ministry has said, commenting on the recent tripartite meeting between Armenia, the European Union and the United States, RFE/RL's Armenian service reports.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Brussels on April 5. The meeting was focused on efforts to increase Armenia’s resilience and diversify its economy heavily dependent on Russia.

Russia denounced the Brussels meeting, accusing the West of trying to oust it from the South Caucasus. Azerbaijan and Turkey also slammed the EU and the United States for their “pro-Armenian” position that they claimed encouraged Yerevan to take “destabilizing actions” in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict zone.

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency on Wednesday, April 9 also quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani as emphasizing “the importance of regional cooperation to establish peace and stability in the Caucasus.”

“Strengthening economic cooperation and expanding communication play an effective role in establishing peace and stability and economic development in the Caucasus region,” he said, as quoted by the news agency.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman also reportedly stressed the need to use regional capacity, including the “3+3 consultative mechanism”, to resolve outstanding disputes.

3+3 is a format of regional cooperation initiated by Turkey and supported by Russia after the 2020 Armenian-Azerbaijani war over Nagorno-Karabakh. It implies the participation of the three South Caucasus nations – Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia – as well as the three regional powers – Russia, Turkey and Iran.

Initially Armenia said that this format should not address issues that “have already been agreed upon or are being discussed” on other platforms, including the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. Georgia rejected the initiative, stating that it cannot cooperate with Russia, which continues to occupy its breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The first meeting in this format at the level of deputy foreign ministers took place in Moscow in late 2021 without Georgia’s participation.

In the wake of Azerbaijan’s complete takeover of Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023 the presidents of Russia and Iran discussed the need to activate the work of the 3+3 platform.

During a meeting with Armenian Security Council Secretary Armen Grigorian in Tehran in October 2023, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian again insisted that the 3+3 platform is an effective format for solving regional problems. Amir-Abdollahian also reaffirmed Iran’s position, stressing the need to maintain international borders and respect the territorial integrity of countries. He also underscored that regional issues should be resolved by the states of the region without interference from extra-regional powers.

Official Yerevan also stated then that it was ready for engagement in the 3+3 format. Prime Minister Pashinyan clarified that one should avoid a situation where Armenia constantly discusses the regional agenda in “distant places” and does not discuss it in the region.

The Armenian prime minister also informed that an agreement was reached at the time that the next meeting of the 3+3 format would take place in Tehran. According to Pashinian, Yerevan was ready to engage, but there were “additional issues for discussion.”

In late October Tehran hosted the second meeting in the 3+3 format that was already held at the level of foreign ministers. Georgia did not attend that meeting either.