Caucasus must not turn into geopolitical battleground: Iran president

Speaking at a joint press conference in Yerevan on Tuesday with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Pezeshkian said Iran supported peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan and considered the stability and prosperity of its neighbors aligned with its own national interests.
“We have always openly supported Armenia’s territorial integrity, and this is a fixed, unchanging policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Pezeshkian said. “We believe politics and governance in the Caucasus region should remain Caucasian. Outsourcing the settlement of issues to extra-regional powers will only complicate matters.”
The president added that bilateral relations with Armenia were expanding and could soon reach $3 billion in trade. He highlighted cooperation in transport, energy, gas and electricity, engineering services, culture, tourism, health, and pharmaceuticals.
Pezeshkian also pointed to shared interests in activating the Persian Gulf-Black Sea corridor, stressing the need to expand rail, road, and maritime transit routes, establish joint free economic zones, equip border markets, and facilitate truck traffic between the two countries.
Pezeshkian also wrote in his X account:
“In my meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, I reiterated the Islamic Republic of Iran’s belief in preserving Armenia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and in continuing the warm relations between our two nations,” the president wrote in a statement on X.
“Our concerns regarding the presence of third-party forces near our common borders must be fully addressed,” he further stressed.