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IRAN AGAINST U.S. PEACEKEEPING ROLE IN KARABAKH
Ruzanna Stepanian
http://www.armenialiberty.org/content/article/2080247.html
23.06.2010
Armenia -- Iranian Ambassador Seyed Ali Saghaeyan at a news conference
in Yerevan, 23June 2010.
Iran is strongly opposed to U.S. involvement in a multi-national
peacekeeping force that would presumably be deployed around
Nagorno-Karabakh after the signing of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace
accord, a senior Iranian diplomat warned on Wednesday.
Such a peacekeeping operation is an important element of the current
and previous peace proposals made by the U.S., Russian and French
mediators spearheading international efforts to settle the Karabakh
dispute.
Analysts in and outside the region have long speculated about the
possible composition of foreign troops that would enforce a future
peace deal. The mediators' existing "basic principles" of a peaceful
settlement apparently leave that question unanswered.
According to Iran's ambassador to Armenia, Seyed Ali Saghaeyan, the
United States is keen to have troops in Azerbaijan's Fizuli district,
which borders Iran and was mostly occupied by Karabakh Armenian forces
in 1993. He claimed that that would pose a serious threat to the
Islamic Republic given its extremely tense relations with Washington.
"Iran is the only country adjacent to the conflicting parties, and in
terms of ensuring its own security, it will not allow the deployment
of American forces," Saghayean told a news conference.
The diplomat declined to specify whether Tehran does not want to see
peacekeeping forces from other foreign powers as well. He argued that
both the conflicting parties and the OSCE Minsk Group have still a
long way to go to reach agreement on the matter.
Saghayean similarly indicated in February that Iran regards the make-up
of the would-be peacekeeping force in the conflict zone as a matter
of national security. "Iran shares a common border with Karabakh and
therefore we surely have our own considerations and views about the
composition of a peacekeeping force that might be deployed in the
conflict zone," he said.
The Iranian envoy also insisted on Wednesday that a renewed war in
Karabakh is extremely unlikely now despite the latest upsurge in
skirmishes along the Armenian-Azerbaijani Line of Contact north and
east of the disputed territory. "Iran rules that out," he said.
From: A. Papazian
Ruzanna Stepanian
http://www.armenialiberty.org/content/article/2080247.html
23.06.2010
Armenia -- Iranian Ambassador Seyed Ali Saghaeyan at a news conference
in Yerevan, 23June 2010.
Iran is strongly opposed to U.S. involvement in a multi-national
peacekeeping force that would presumably be deployed around
Nagorno-Karabakh after the signing of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace
accord, a senior Iranian diplomat warned on Wednesday.
Such a peacekeeping operation is an important element of the current
and previous peace proposals made by the U.S., Russian and French
mediators spearheading international efforts to settle the Karabakh
dispute.
Analysts in and outside the region have long speculated about the
possible composition of foreign troops that would enforce a future
peace deal. The mediators' existing "basic principles" of a peaceful
settlement apparently leave that question unanswered.
According to Iran's ambassador to Armenia, Seyed Ali Saghaeyan, the
United States is keen to have troops in Azerbaijan's Fizuli district,
which borders Iran and was mostly occupied by Karabakh Armenian forces
in 1993. He claimed that that would pose a serious threat to the
Islamic Republic given its extremely tense relations with Washington.
"Iran is the only country adjacent to the conflicting parties, and in
terms of ensuring its own security, it will not allow the deployment
of American forces," Saghayean told a news conference.
The diplomat declined to specify whether Tehran does not want to see
peacekeeping forces from other foreign powers as well. He argued that
both the conflicting parties and the OSCE Minsk Group have still a
long way to go to reach agreement on the matter.
Saghayean similarly indicated in February that Iran regards the make-up
of the would-be peacekeeping force in the conflict zone as a matter
of national security. "Iran shares a common border with Karabakh and
therefore we surely have our own considerations and views about the
composition of a peacekeeping force that might be deployed in the
conflict zone," he said.
The Iranian envoy also insisted on Wednesday that a renewed war in
Karabakh is extremely unlikely now despite the latest upsurge in
skirmishes along the Armenian-Azerbaijani Line of Contact north and
east of the disputed territory. "Iran rules that out," he said.
From: A. Papazian