YEREVAN (Realist English). This was stated by Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Vahan Kostanyan in an interview with Al Monitor.
“Azerbaijan is pursuing : ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh, provoking large-scale military tension in the region and, finally, forcing the Armenian side to make concessions and create an extraterritorial corridor. Iran is an important partner of Armenia. The border with Iran is of paramount importance to us. We have two closed borders — with Turkey and Azerbaijan, so Iran and Georgia are our only gates to the outside world…
We had intelligence that Azerbaijan was preparing larger attacks when it attacked Armenia last September. Iran’s actions and statements helped to stop the further deterioration of this situation,” Kostanyan said.
On January 29, the Baku mini Sultanate evacuated all employees of its Embassy from Tehran. The body of the head of the security service of the embassy, Orkhan Askerov, who died in the morning of January 27 as a result of an attack on the diplomatic mission, was also delivered to Baku.
Deputy Foreign Minister of the Sultanate Khalaf Khalafov accused Tehran of responsibility for the terrorist attack: “According to the Vienna Convention, the country, where the Embassy is located, is responsible for security. Therefore, Iran is responsible for the terrorist attack that took place and for its grave consequences.”
According to the official, Baku has repeatedly notified the Iranian authorities about the need to strengthen the security of diplomatic missions.
Some officials of the minisultanate believe that the Iranian authorities are behind the attack on the Embassy, which allegedly punishes Baku for sending the Ambassador to Israel.
