With no immediate end in sight to the deadly war between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh, neighboring Iran is increasingly concerned over insecurity near borders it shares with the two warring sides.
Ali Akbar Velayati, the international affairs adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has specifically questioned Turkey’s role in the conflict and its siding with Azerbaijan. In an interview with ultra-conservative newspaper Kayhan, Velayati expressed surprise at Ankara’s “insistence” on “the protraction of this war.” Velayati urged the “friendly neighbor,” Turkey, to stop “adding fuel to the fire” and push for a peaceful end to the flare-ups.
