NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg was still in Baku, meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defense of Azerbaijan, when the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Islamic Republic of Iran to that country Mousavi announced that “as part of the Nowruz celebration, the Hodaperin Bridge section of the Iranian-Azerbaijani border will be held between Iran and Azerbaijan meeting of presidents”. According to the ambassador’s presentation, they were supposed to participate in the opening ceremony of “Hodaperin” and “Kuysi Targary” reservoirs.
On March 18, after a telephone conversation with Russian President Putin, during which the parties reaffirmed the “alliance” and “strategic” nature of the relations between the two countries and assured their “further strengthening”, Ilham Aliyev again appeared in Stepanakert, “renamed” the deserted square and lit Navruz. the bonfire and announced that it will “finally cleanse the square of separatism”. There was an impression that on the same day he will go to the south, to the Araks valley, and “start a new era” in Iran-Azerbaijan relations.
Especially since the Minister of Energy of Azerbaijan was in Tehran, and before that it became known that the delegation of the Azerbaijani Navy participates as an observer in the Russian-Iranian-Chinese “Maritime Border Protection 2024” exercises in the Strait of Oman, and the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry hinted at the full participation of the embassy in Tehran. about resuming operations in the near future. However, on March 18, the Raisi-Aliev meeting did not take place, as well as on the days of Navruz celebration.
The Iranian ambassador in Baku hardly allowed himself to engage in self-activity. It remains to assume that the Raisi-Aliev meeting was planned, but at least it was postponed. Why? After Aliyev, President of Iran Raisi had a telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin. According to the Irna news agency, Tehran is “sensitive” to assess the “events and developments” in the South Caucasus and emphasizes that it is “firm to protect national interests”. Moreover, the president of Iran did not repeat – at least there is no hint about it – that “problems should be settled with the participation of the countries of the region”.
It is clearly understood that Iran considers the “sensitive events and developments” in the South Caucasus in the sphere of bilateral, Russian-Iranian relations and in that sense “is determined to protect the national interest”. What does the hint refer to? Where, what is the fundamental question that “events and developments in the South Caucasus can ignore Iran’s national interest?” Was the meeting between the presidents of Iran and Azerbaijan not postponed because of Russian-Iranian “differences”?
Unlike Moscow, Tehran did not publicly criticize the NATO Secretary General’s visit to the region. Is Tehran afraid that Azerbaijan is preparing for escalation? In those days, one of the Azerbaijani experts made public the opinion of Milli Mejlis deputy Hasanguliyev that “according to point 9 of the November 9 document, Azerbaijan is obliged to open the “Zangezur Corridor” and hand over control to Russia.” Moscow has repeatedly stated the “necessity” of establishing land communication from Azerbaijan to Nakhichevan and assigning control to the border guard troops of the Russian Federal Security Service and continues to insist that “the basis of the Armenian-Azerbaijani settlement is the previously reached agreements in the tripartite format”.
In that matter, it seems, the approaches of Moscow and Tehran are not identical. The message about Raisi-Putin telephone conversation has another nuance. The Russian President spoke about the Russian-Iranian comprehensive cooperation agreement “being in the finalization stage”. The signing of that contract has been delayed for the second year. What is a “touchstone”? The post-conflict status quo of the South Caucasus? What is the issue that Moscow and Tehran, despite their quite close relations, are still unable to agree on?
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