Page 7 - IRANRptOct21

2.2 Iran’s envoy to Azerbaijan says countries have ‘good neighbourly relations’ despite efforts of ‘enemies’
Iran’s Ambassador to Azerbaijan Sayyed Abbas Mousavi has affirmed that the two countries have “good neighbourly relations” but that “there are third parties, enemies who do not want this relationship”, according to Azerbaijani media reports.
Abbas Mousavi said he lately twice met with Hikmet Hajiyev, foreign policy advisor to President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, to discuss bilateral relations. One issue recently has been Azerbaijan charging a road “tax” on Iranian trucks briefly crossing its territory to head north for deliveries to Armenia and ethnic-Armenian controlled parts of Karabakh.
“Unfortunately, untrue information is widely spread on social networks. We investigated the issue of trucks [going to Karabakh]. It turned out that private companies have taken this step. We have warned private companies to respect the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. Armenia is one of our neighbours. We have always been against separatism. At the state level, our domestic and foreign policies are determined by the Supreme Leader. The Supreme Leader is both the Supreme Commander-in-Chief and a political leader. The statement of the Supreme Leader stressed that Karabakh is an integral part of Azerbaijan. However, I am confident that third parties will not be able to damage bilateral relations," said Abbas Mousavi.
The envoy also spoke about Iranian military exercises near the border with Azerbaijan, which some observers have claimed were a response to joint Azerbaijani-Turkish-Pakistani war games in Azerbaijan: "The issue has been presented in the wrong way. The position of the states is expressed by the representatives of official bodies, not other people" he said.
The ambassador noted that he informed the Azerbaijani side about the military exercises months ago, saying they were planned drills: “These exercises are being carried out continuously, previously [also they were] held in Western Azerbaijan [province of Iran]. Our military power is at the service of our friends, it cannot be considered a threat to our friends," Abbas Mousavi added.
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev was on September 27 critical of the Iranian military exercises that have been taking place near his country’s border with Iran. Aliyev, addressing the nation while giving an interview to Turkey’s state-controlled news service Anadolu Agency, said the Iranian military drills amounted to a "very surprising" event, as no such activities had taken place during Azerbaijan’s 30 years of independence. Although he emphasized that it is a "sovereign right" of any country to conduct military exercises on its territory, he was doubtful as to why the Iranian exercises were taking place "now and why on the border with Azerbaijan".
7 IRAN Country Report October 2021 www.intellinews.com