Tehran calls on the parties to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict to show restraint and avoid any actions that could further escalate the situation, a spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry said Saturday, April 2, TASS reports.
"We invite both our northern neighbors to show restraint and avoid any action than could aggravate the situation," Iran’s IRNA news agency quoted Hossein Jaberi Ansari as saying.
Ansari added that reports of armed clashes in Nagorno Karabakh were "a source of deep concern for the Islamic Republic of Iran."
"We urge Azerbaijan and Armenia to immediately cease clashes and spare no effort to restore peace and get back to the settlement process under the auspices of peace groups and the United Nations," he said.
On the night of April 1-2, Azerbaijani armed forces initiated overt offensive operations in the southern, southeastern and northeastern directions of the line of contact with Nagorno Karabakh, using artillery, armored fighting vehicles and air force equipment among other weapons.
Aside from the battles on the frontline, the rival has also carried out artillery strikes on civilian settlements and places of permanent deployment of several military units.
On April 2, at around 8:30 am, the rival used BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher in the Martuni direction of the contact line. 12-year-old Vaghinak Grigoryan was killed in the shelling, two more children were wounded.
Earleir, the Nagorno Karabakh special forces identified an Azerbaijani subversive group near the Levonarkh settlement and threw the saboteurs back to their positions.
According to Armenia’s Defense Ministry, the rival troops retreated after suffering several human losses.
As many as 18 Karabakh servicemen were killed and 35 were wounded in the course of military operations with Azerbaijani army on April 1-2, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said at a Security Council meeting.
Starting at 6:00 am, on April 3, the Azerbaijani armed forces have been conducting aggressive military actions in the southern direction of the line of contact, using rockets and artillery, as well as armored fighting vehicles.
