In phone call, top Iranian, Armenian diplomats discuss regional developments

ANKARA

In a Thursday phone call, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan discussed regional developments.

According to an Iranian Foreign Ministry statement, both top diplomats highlighted recent Armenian military exercises with the US, with Amir-Abdollahian saying that the presence of any foreign forces in the region is a factor that complicates the situation.

The statement added that Amir-Abdollahian also stressed regional dialogue, including the 3+3 mechanism platform in the southern Caucasus region formed by Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Iran, Russia, Georgia, and Armenia.

For his part, Mirzoyan described the developments between his country and Iran as "constructive and important," according to the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

Iran shares a 44-kilometer (27-mile) border with Armenia that runs from the tripoint with Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan region in the west to the tripoint with Azerbaijan proper in the east.

Speaking on the phone Wednesday with his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov, Amir-Abdollahian said the border between Iran and Armenia must be preserved "without any change", calling it a "historic connecting route."

The phone calls came amid continuing tension between Azerbaijan and Armenia, dating back decades and also flaring up after the end of the fall 2020 Karabakh war.