ArmInfo. Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's statement about the inadmissibility of blocking the border with Armenia, made on the sidelines of the trilateral summit of the presidents of Russia, Turkey and Iran, had only one addressee and, that was Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Andrey Areshev, an expert on the South Caucasus, expressed a similar opinion to ArmInfo.
"Among other things, in the South Caucasus, Khamenei's statement as a whole reflects a rather complicated range of political relations between Ankara and Tehran. And this is another attempt by Tehran to resolve conflict situations, including through a message to the Turkish president about the inadmissibility of further escalating tension on the border of Armenia and Iran," he said. According to Areshev, the attempts of Baku and Ankara to establish communications by laying an extraterritorial corridor through the Syunik region of Armenia cause Tehran's legitimate concern. And the signs of a military escalation on the Iranian-Azerbaijani border in August-September last year eventually transformed into more active diplomatic and political activity.
However, according to the expert, all this does not rule out more radical steps by Iran in the direction of Turkey and Azerbaijan in case of escalation of tension. And Tehran's statement made by Khamenei was yet another reminder of the unacceptability for Tehran to deploy international terrorists or Israeli troops on its northern borders. Commenting on the final statement of the Tehran summit regarding the expansion of the trilateral format of cooperation beyond Syria, Areshev noted that its expansion in the Caucasus direction is not only desirable, but also necessary. And, for example, the same Iran is actively trying today to establish active economic ties with both Azerbaijan and Armenia.
" In this sense, the South Caucasus is quite an important region. And, of course, from the point of view of the ongoing negotiations on the opening of the Armenian-Turkish border, it should be admitted that a number of important issues for Turkey, Iran and Russia are related to the current problems in the Caucasus. As far as I understand, there are already agreements in this regard between the leaders of the Russian Federation, Iran and Turkey. Let's see how they will be implemented in practice," the Russian expert concluded.