Iran calls for peaceful settlement of Karabakh dispute

Iran’s ambassador to Baku has called on Azerbaijan and Armenia to resolve the conflict over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region through dialogue.

Mohsen Pakayeen said the ongoing border clashes between the two neighbors “are not in favor of security of the region.”

“The Islamic Republic of Iran wants a peaceful solution to Nagorno-Karabakh dispute,” he said.

Pakayeen also called on regional countries to help settle the dispute, saying Iran is ready to mediate between Baku and Yerevan.

The comments came after at least 15 people were killed in skirmishes between Azeri government forces and ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh enclave in a flare-up of violence over the last few days.

The two ex-Soviet Caucasus nations claim the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is largely populated by Armenians.

Ethnic Armenian forces took control of the enclave that accounts for 16 percent of Azerbaijan in the early 1990s during a six-year war with the country that took place from February 1988 to May 1994.

The conflict left an estimated 30,000 people dead and one million displaced before the two sides agreed to a ceasefire in 1994. However, a peace accord has never been signed and the dispute still remains unsettled.

Iran has on several occasions offered to intervene in the dispute.