Iran Reaffirms Stance On Regional Borders After Aliyev’s Threats

TEHRAN — Iran remains strongly opposed to any changes in regional borders, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has told a senior aide to his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev one month after the latter threatened to forcibly open a land corridor through Armenia.

Hikmet Hajiyev, Aliyev’s top foreign policy adviser, was received by Pezeshkian on Sunday during a visit to Tehran apparently aimed at easing lingering tensions in Azerbaijani-Iranian relations.

“Pezeshkian also underscored the significance of preserving territorial integrity of regional states as one of the main principles of Iran’s foreign policy, noting that changes to borders are unacceptable,” the Iranian presidential office said in its readout of the meeting released on Monday.

Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have repeatedly issued such warnings in recent years amid Baku’s demands for the opening of the extraterritorial corridor that would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave through Syunik, the only Armenian region bordering Iran. The Islamic Republic fears that the corridor would strip it of its common border with Armenia.