Baku/10.04.23/Turan: On April 7 and 8, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers Ceyhun Bayramov and Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Abdullahiyan had a telephone conversation. According to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, "the sides expressed mutual respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the two countries."
"During the conversation, the sides discussed in details issues that caused discontent and misunderstanding between the two countries. The importance of continuing negotiations to eliminate these misunderstandings was noted. The parties agreed to continue work on the implementation of bilateral projects.
In turn, the Iranian Foreign Ministry reports that "In a conversation with his Azerbaijani counterpart, the Iranian Foreign Minister stressed the conspiracy of the Zionist regime against the unity, security and progress of the countries of the region." "The existence of disagreements between the countries of the region is beneficial only to enemies," the Iranian side reports.
Former Foreign Minister Tofig Zulfugarov comments on the tense relations between the two countries on the air of the program "Difficult Question".
He positively assessed the meeting between the foreign ministers of both states the other day. "As we can see, people from the Iranian side who have nothing to do with foreign policy and do not have any authority comments on the tension that has arisen between our countries. The military, representatives of the clergy and others make statements. The speeches of any representatives of the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps) or the supreme spiritual leadership of Iran provoked a response in Azerbaijan," the ex-minister said.
In his opinion, it can be concluded that some circles in the political elite of Iran adhere to different positions. "Radical elements are actively involved in escalating tensions. Other circles are either passive or do not support a confrontational course. And if we follow the actions of the Iranian Foreign Minister, we will see that he is not interested in escalating tensions," Tofiq Zulfugarov said.
In his opinion, the fact that the contact took place indicates that the political elite of Iran is aware that the escalation of tension will not result in anything good.
"There is an understanding that a further increase in tension does not bode well for either Iran or Azerbaijan," he stressed.--0--
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