Iran will not tolerate the presence of Zionist elements in the countries of the region and will confront it, the commander of the Islamic Republic’s ground forces, Kioumars Heydari, stated against the backdrop of heightened tensions in Iran-Azerbaijan relations, addressing Baku.
This was reported by Azatutyun.
Following a series of statements regarding Azerbaijan’s border movements, Iran’s ground forces commander Kioumars Heydari said: “There are very sensitive issues in the Caucasus. One of them is the presence of Zionist elements on the borders of this country; the other issue is the presence of Syrian terrorists who were moved to the region during the war between Baku and Armenia, and Iran has no substantiated evidence regarding the departure of those elements from the region.”
Heydari added: “The third issue is the illegitimacy of changes to state borders in the region. Iran respects the borders of neighbouring countries and will not allow them to be changed.”
In response, Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defence characterised the Iranian army commander’s statement as slander, insisting that “there are no foreign elements on Azerbaijan’s territory,” and that all of Tehran’s accusations against Baku are “unfounded and unacceptable.”
The Iranian general also stressed that Tehran will not allow changes to the border with Armenia. Accusations were again levelled from Baku that the Iranian side has always supported Armenia, including before the war.
“And today it is no secret to anyone that France and Iran are Armenia’s main allies in the world,” the ministry emphasised.
