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Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman @SKhatibzadeh calls on both Armenia and Azerbaijan to exercise restraint, offers assistant to mediate the conflict and to help reach a ceasefire https://twitter.com/nicolegrajewski/status/1310246645666402305
Iran has no interest in seeing the prolongation of the conflict, esp due to its relative proximity to Iran’s northern borders. Iran-Armenia ties have been stronge since the 1990s but under Rouhani, Iran’s relationship with Azerbaijan has improved as well.
During almost every flare-up, Iran has offered to mediate between the two sides. In 1992, Rafsanjani did host a tripartite summit in Tehran and managed to reach a ceasefire though it was soon undermined with the Armenian offensive on Shusha.
Eventually, the role of the CSCE limited Iran’s ability to serve as a mediator in the conflict. Iran’s status as an impartial arbitrator is potentially undermined by Iran’s support for Armenia in the conflict, allowing goods/supplies etc to enter Armenia via Iran.
Iran has previously affirmed its support for Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and, in general, has been skeptical about endorsing any calls for self-determination - NK but also Kosovo and Chechnya.
https://twitter.com/jzarif/status/1310237342922346497?s=21 Zarif’s response https://twitter.com/jzarif/status/1310237342922346497
Also for anyone interested, Rouhani’s advisor @Dr_Vaezi was actually one of the main envoys involved in Iran’s mediation on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the 1990s
