Tehran to host six-nation meeting on Caucasus peace process
Foreign ministers from Iran, Turkey, Russia and Georgia will meet their counterparts from Azerbaijan and Armenia in Tehran today and discuss progress towards a peace agreement between the two South Caucasus neighbors, according to Iranian state media.
IRNA quoted the Iranian Foreign Ministry as saying the six countries wanted to talk about regional issues “without the interference of non-regional and Western countries”.
That was an implicit reference to the United States and the European Union, whose interference in a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan has annoyed regional states.
Russia’s Interfax news agency said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would travel to Tehran for the meeting.
“We confirm Lavrov’s planned talks in Tehran on Monday,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the TASS and RIA news agencies.
Azerbaijan and Armenia have fought two wars in the past three decades and have so far failed to reach a peace deal despite long-running efforts by neighbors.