TEHRAN – Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has underlined the need for the Republic of Azerbaijan to ensure the rights of Armenians in the Karabakh region. 

Speaking at a military parade in Tehran on Friday, President Raisi reiterated Iran’s position on the situation in the South Caucasus region. 

“The powerful Iranian armed forces are present in the region to prevent any change in the geopolitics of the region and changes in the borders, and they have been successful in this,” he asserted. 

President Raisi added, “Regarding the developments in the [South Caucasus] region, we emphasize that preserving the rights of Armenians and observing the situation of Armenians is a necessity, in such a way that the security and rights of Armenians must be protected in the region and the state of the borders must be completely preserved.”

He also touched on the issue of disarming Iranian Kurdish Separatist groups based in Iraqi Kurdistan. “With respect to Iraq, the beginning of disarmament in the borders of the Islamic Republic of Iran is a positive move that the Iraqi government has started. The Honorable Chief of the Joint Staff of the Armed Forces has sent delegations to ensure the disarmament of the armed groups in the border areas,” Ayatollah Raisi said. 

He warned, “No group near the border of Iran has the right to have weapons. We will not allow any separatist group to incite sedition against the Islamic Republic of Iran at border points, within the [Iraqi Kurdistan] region or anywhere else. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure the complete disarmament of illegal armed people around the border.”

President Raisi also took a jab at the normalization efforts underway in the region between Israel and some Arab states. “We have stated many times that the normalization of relations with some countries in the region will in no way create security for the Zionist regime. Because all the Muslim nations, the people of the region and even the people of the world hate the Zionist regime with all their heart,” he said. 

Raisi pointed out, “If the government or people in the governments of the region think that the normalization of relations can actually normalize relations, it will not be so. This action is a stab at the resistance of the Palestinian people and Palestine and the Palestinian Mujahideen will not get over this betrayal.”

He also offered a solution to the Palestinian question, saying, “The Islamic Republic of Iran has repeatedly stated that the solution to the Palestinian issue is not the normalization of relations, Camp David, Sharm el-Sheikh and Oslo agreements. The basic solution to this problem is the same solution that the wise Leader of the Islamic Revolution said and this solution has been registered in the United Nations. Based on this solution, every Palestinian, whether Muslim, Jew, or Christian, can form the desired government of the Palestinian people with his vote. This is the way out of the basic problem of the region, not the solutions that the Americans and the Zionist regime are pursuing.”