Azernews.Az

TEHRAN – Azerbaijani Defense Minister Safar Abiyev has hinted Iran was among countries that are to blame for delays in resolving Azerbaijan’s long-standing conflict with Armenia over Upper (Nagorno) Karabakh.

Hosting Iran’s Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi in Baku on Monday, Abiyev said that Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan hampers alleviating tensions in the volatile region, the Defense Ministry said.

"The reason for this is that some countries are failing to recognize Armenia as an aggressor, while others, despite stating that they are friendly and fraternal countries for Azerbaijan, are providing economic and military aid to the invader."

Though Abiyev did not specify any country, Azerbaijani analysts suggest that he could have implied only Iran and Russia, saying that these regional states are rendering both economic and military assistance to Armenia, though they verbally term Azerbaijan as a fraternal nation. Pundits believe that Iran in particular is in question.

The Iranian defense minister reiterated that Tehran views Azerbaijan as a brotherly country and condemns the Armenian occupation of a part of Azerbaijan’s territory during a meeting with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov on Monday. Vahidi also voiced hope that the Azerbaijanis displaced during the war with Armenia in the early 1990s would return home.

During talks with President Ilham Aliyev, the parties discussed military cooperation issues. President Aliyev said reciprocal visits have intensified, which indicates that cooperation between Azerbaijan and Iran is multi-faceted. He added that bilateral cooperation was developing in the military field, just like in other areas.

Vahidi told reporters upon arrival in Baku Monday that new agreements could be signed between the two countries, but the parties did not put pen to any documents on the first day of his two-day visit, which is being paid at the invitation of his Azerbaijani counterpart.

The governments of Azerbaijan and Iran signed a military cooperation agreement in 2005.

Rasim Musabayov, an Azerbaijani political analyst, says that Minister Abiyev’s strongly-worded statement points to Azerbaijan’s ample power, and the country "is conveying to the states defying its interests that this is so".

On the other hand, Musabayov continued, Iran "may want something" from the neighboring country, but "everything has to be mutual".

"In the backdrop of aiding Armenia, Iran’s wishes are unacceptable. It could be that in order to create grounds to say ‘no’ to them, the Azerbaijani defense minister is airing certain grievances over Iran’s conduct."

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a cease-fire in 1994, but Armenia continues to occupy Nagorno Karabakh and seven adjacent Azerbaijani districts in defiance of international law. Numerous rounds of OSCE-brokered negotiations have been largely fruitless so far.