Tehran – Iran has expressed support for a potential peace agreement announced by Armenia and Azerbaijan, which aims to resolve a territorial dispute for nearly 40 years.
In a statement on Friday, Esmaeir Bakaei, a spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, praised the development as an “important and necessary step” to ensure “lasting peace” in the South Caucasus. He expressed optimism that the two countries will resolve prolonged disagreements through ongoing dialogue and quickly finalize the treaty.
The breakthrough comes after Armenia and Azerbaijan announced on Thursday that they had finalized the peace agreement text. Foreign Minister Azeri Jayhun Beiramov said “the negotiation process on the text of the peace agreement with Armenia is concluded,” and said Armenia has accepted Baku’s proposal on two previously disputed provisions.
Armenia’s Foreign Ministry confirmed the progress in another announcement, declaring that “the negotiations on the draft contract have concluded,” and that the treaty is “ready for signing.” Armenian Prime Minister Nicole Pashinyan described the milestone as “important” and confirmed that Yerevan would “discuss the timing and location to formalize the agreement.”
“We consider this text a compromise. I think any peace agreement should be,” Pashinyan said. However, he admitted that two important issues remained resolved until the final stage. It is a disagreement regarding the provisions excluding “deployment of third-party units” along the shared borders and the mutual withdrawal of legal claims from the International Court.
Internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh promoted decades of hostility, including two devastating wars in the 1990s and 2020.
In 2020, Azerbaijan made significant territorial profits in a six-week war, killing thousands on both sides, and Moscow brokered a ceasefire deal that included five years of deployment of 1,960 Russian peacekeeping forces.
After the armistice, both sides accused each other of violating the peace agreement.