Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday said the deployment of militants of any nationals, including Syria, to regions that are located near borders of the Islamic republic "is unacceptable," while commenting on the armed confrontation in the unrecognized breakaway republic of Nagorno-Karabakh
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th October, 2020) Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday said the deployment of militants of any nationals, including Syria, to regions that are located near borders of the Islamic republic "is unacceptable," while commenting on the armed confrontation in the unrecognized breakaway republic of Nagorno-Karabakh.
"It is unacceptable if certain people want to take terrorists from Syria and other places to areas near the Iranian borders under different pretexts, and we have directly informed officials in both the Azerbaijan Republic and Armenia of our position in that regard," Rouhani said in a statement published on the government website.
Rouhani highlighted the necessity to make every effort to prevent clashes between the rival sides from growing into a regional war and warned third parties of fanning "the war flames." The president has also called on the belligerents to put an end to the hostilities.
On Tuesday, Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami and Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli warned Baku and Yerevan that Tehran would take more extreme measures if there was another random airstrike of Iran's border areas. At the end of last week, reports emerged that around 20 mortar shells had hit Iran's Aslan Duz district belonging to the northwestern Ardabil province.
The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh escalated in late September when both sides accused each other of provoking military actions. Ankara immediately threw its weight behind Baku. Along with that, reports have circulated that Turkish military advisers and Syrian mercenaries have been involved in the hostilities, with both Turkey and Azerbaijan categorically denying the reports.
On September 30, Rouhani held phone talks with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, during which the former expressed concerns over the ongoing escalation in Karabakh. Following that, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev also had a phone conversation with an high-level Iranian official, promising that he would not allow any threat to the security of Iranian borders during the ongoing conflict.
