Iran helped stop “larger attacks” being prepared by Azerbaijan against Armenia

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia's deputy foreign minister Vahan Kostanyan has revealed that Iran helped to stop escalation after Armenia obtained intelligence that “larger attacks were being prepared by Azerbaijan when it attacked Armenia last September.”

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Kostanyan said Iranian actions and statements helped to stop a further deterioration of the situation.

The deputy foreign minister believes Azerbaijan has three objectives: the ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh, to provoke large-scale military tension in the region, and to push the Armenian side to give an extra-territorial corridor.

“Iran is an important partner. The border with Iran is of utmost importance to us. We have two closed borders with Turkey and Azerbaijan, thus Iran and Georgia are our only gates to the outside world,” he added.

Kostanyan also revealed that acquiring Iranian weapons “is not on our agenda”.

The latest round of fighting between the two countries began in the wee hours of September 13, 2022 when the Azerbaijani military attacked Armenian posts and shelled Armenian settlements both on the border and deep behind the frontline. More than 200 people are dead or missing as a result, the Security Council of Armenia said several days after the attack.