TEHRAN - Shahriar Heidari, a member of the Iranian Parliament's National Security Committee, warned Azerbaijan on Sunday that Tehran will not move past Azerbaijan’s attempts to change Iran’s borders with Armenia. 

He explained that Iran and Armenia share a 47-kilometer border in the Karabakh region and Baku is seeking to diminish the extent of this border by making geopolitical changes.

“Altering Iran’s borders with its neighbors is an Israeli plan. Azerbaijan must understand that acting in line with such plans will bring out Iran's sensitivity,” Heidari warned.

Heidari added that Iran honors the sovereignty and national integrity of countries in the region and has great emphasis on the matter. 

The lawmaker also touched on how the presence of Israel and the U.S. in the region causes ties between different countries to become fractious. He mentioned how Baku has changed its diplomatic rhetoric in regard to Iran under the influence of the Israeli regime. 

“Iran will not tolerate any interference by foreign forces in Karabakh. The Azerbaijani government must realize that the Israeli regime and the U.S. are in no way real supporters of the state and people of Azerbaijan,” said the MP.

On Thursday, both Armenia and Azerbaijan exchanged accusations of deploying troops near their shared border amidst escalating tensions over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. 
The disputed region, located in the South Caucasus, has been a source of conflict between the two countries for over thirty years. 

Azerbaijan was able to capture of a vast area in the region, officially considered part of Azerbaijan by the UN, during a war with Armenia in 2020. Despite a ceasefire in place, Baku has reportedly been thinking of launching another attack and gaining control of the remaining areas. The move would change historic borders between Iran and Armenia which the two countries have been sharing for thousands of years. 

Despite mediation attempts by the European Union, the United States, and Russia, skirmishes along the border continue to occur regularly, as the predominantly Armenian population in Karabakh opposes Azerbaijani governance.