The Iranian: The status quo around Artsakh and the Iran-Artsakh  border comes from the interests of Tehran

ArmInfo. The current status quo around Artsakh and the Iran- Artsakh border comes from the interests of Tehran. Vardan Voskanyan, Head of the Department of  Oriental Studies at the Faculty of Oriental Studies of Yerevan State  University, expressed this opinion to ArmInfo.

"The Iranians, of course, never express their interest at the  diplomatic level, doing this mainly at the expert level, but Iran  benefits from the status quo around Artsakh and the situation on the  Iran-Artsakh border. And of course, the changes in this  status quo in favor of Azerbaijan would not like Tehran," he  stressed.

In the opinion of the Iranian, it is neutrality in the Karabakh issue  that gives Tehran the opportunity to maintain relations with both  Yerevan and Baku, significantly increasing its maneuverability.  Noting the desire of the Islamic Republic of Iran to increase the  influence in the Karabakh settlement, Voskanyan stressed the  invariability of the Minsk format of the talks on Karabakh. The  Iranian explains the absence of prospects for changing the  composition of the OSCE MG Co-Chairs by the prospect of Turkey's  otherwise appearing there with its particular biased position.

From the geopolitical point of view and ensuring regional security,  the Iranian assesses the importance of the border between Artsakh and  Iran extremely high both for Iran and for Artsakh. In turn, for  Tehran, the border with Artsakh is important due to a significant  reduction in the influence of Azerbaijan on the north- western  provinces of Iran. "Of course, we should not forget about the threat  of armed penetration from the side, using the territory of Azerbaijan  for anti-Iranian actions, the third forces," the Iranian stressed.

The OSCE Minsk Group has been dealing with the settlement of the  Karabakh conflict since 1992, represented by the co-chairs from  Russia, the United States and France. Currently, the settlement  process is based on the Madrid Principles put forward by the OSCE  Minsk Group Co-Chairs in 2007 and updated in 2009, including, among  other things, the deployment of a peacekeeping contingent in the  conflict zone.