“We welcome the agreement on the peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan and encourage the two countries to sign this document as soon as possible,” Araghchi said after talks with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan.
“We believe that this agreement is very important for peace and stability in the Caucasus as well as for the development of economic relations,” he told a joint news conference. The Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal would minimize the risk of a major “escalation” of tensions between the two South Caucasus states.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry urged Baku to start “consultations on the dates and venue for the signing of the treaty” right after Yerevan accepted Azerbaijani proposals regarding the last remaining differences on its text. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian repeated the appeal multiple times on social media last week. Mirzoyan said on Tuesday that Baku has still not responded positively.
“At the moment, there is no [mutual] understanding as to where and when it should be signed,” he said.
The Azerbaijani leadership has repeatedly made clear since March 13 that the signing of the peace deal is conditional on a change of Armenia’s constitution and the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorno-Karabakh. Baku has also voiced other demands, notably the opening of a land corridor to Azerbaijan’s Nakhichevan exclave passing through Syunik, the only Armenian region bordering Iran.
Araghchi indicated Iran’s continuing opposition to such a corridor that could strip it of the common border or direct transport links with Armenia. He reaffirmed Tehran’s support for Yerevan’s “Crossroads of Peace” project designed to serve as a blueprint for opening the Armenian-Azerbaijani border to travel and commerce. The project says that Armenia and Azerbaijan should have full control of transport infrastructure inside each other’s territory.
“We support the independence and territorial integrity of the regional countries and are against any change of the internationally recognized borders or any other geopolitical changes,” stressed Araghchi. “This is the steady position of Iran.”
The top Iranian diplomat also praised his country’s “friendly” relations with Armenia, saying that they are “growing dynamically.” He said he and Mirzoyan had an “excellent conversation” on a project to build a second bridge over the Arax river marking the Armenian-Iranian border. He gave no possible time frames for its implementation.