TEHRAN - Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Tuesday reiterated Tehran’s stance regarding unblocking connection routes in the South Caucasus, Armenpress reported.

Iran favors unblocking connections, but it must be done on the basis of respect for the countries’ sovereignty, territorial integrity and national laws, Araghchi told a joint press conference with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan in Yerevan.

“Iran believes that regional problems must be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy and opposes any military step for solving disputes in the region. The development of connection routes, transit routes in the region is an acceptable issue, but it must take place under the sovereignty of the countries. The territorial integrity and national laws of the countries must be respected. Anything other than this is unacceptable for Iran,” Araghchi said when asked what Tehran would do if Azerbaijan were to try to militarily capture an extraterritorial corridor through Armenia.

Tehran wishes swift peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan

Foreign Minister Araghchi also expressed hope that Armenia and Azerbaijan will swiftly sign the peace agreement.

“Iran supports the peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan and we hope that the two countries will make a final decision as soon as possible about the signing of the agreement,” the Iranian chief diplomat said.

“We believe that this agreement is highly important for peace and stability in South Caucasus, and this issue is also highly important for the development of economic relations, and we hope that the problems which exist will be resolved soon and the agreement will be signed,” the foreign minister insisted, according to Armenpress.

On the risk of escalation in the region, Iran’s foreign minister added, “We hope that in case of signing the peace agreement these risks will be minimized and we will witness the region’s stability, which is in everyone’s interests.”

Armenia has announced readiness to swiftly sign the peace agreement.

‘Armenia ready to sign peace deal with Azerbaijan but so far no willingness from Baku’

For his part, Armenian Foreign Minister Mirzoyan said his country is ready to launch consultations with Azerbaijan to choose a venue and date for signing the peace agreement.

So far no such readiness has been expressed by Azerbaijan, he said.

“Officially, Yerevan proposed to launch consultations to determine the place, time and other details of signing the agreement. As of this moment we haven’t heard the same readiness officially by Baku,” Mirzoyan said when asked whether consultations have already taken place.

“Parallel with, and following the conclusion of the text of the peace agreement, Azerbaijan has been seeing some other preconditions. You’d ask, what must be done? We must continue to work, negotiate, find mutually acceptable solutions, dignified solutions, solutions ensuring lasting peace, there is simply no alternative. Indeed, at this moment we don’t have a [mutual] understanding about where and when it will be signed. We are ready to maximally swiftly be engaged in that process and put our signature,” Mirzoyan stated.