Iran wants Azeri mediation in talks with Washington – paper

Zerkalo, Baku
29 Dec 04

Iran has proposed that Baku act as a mediator to help resolve Tehran’s
problems with the USA, the Azerbaijani newspaper Zerkalo said. The
newspaper reported that Tehran is ready to resolve all disputed issues
with Azerbaijan, including the status of the Caspian, which has been a
bone of contention between the two countries for a long time, and not
to use force against Azerbaijan in return for a guarantee that
Azerbaijan will not allow the USA to invade or strike Iran from its
territory. The following is an excerpt from R. Mirqadirov report by
Azerbaijani newspaper Zerkalo on 29 December headlined “Tehran needs
Baku’s support” and subheaded “Although it blackmails us by missile
strikes”. Subheadings have been inserted editorially:

The last month before the New Year can be regarded as an “Iranian”
month in Baku. In this short period of time, four high-ranking
officials of the Tehran regime visited the Azerbaijani capital. The
Iranian president’s special envoy on Caspian issues, Mehdi Safari,
Health Minister Mas’ud Pezeshkian, Information Minister Ali Yunesi and
finally Defence Minister Ali Shamkhani visited the capital. Almost
immediately after the New Year celebrations in early January, Baku
expects Iranian Vice-President Huseyn Marishan [untraced]. But let us
go back to the already paid visits, during which a number of
sensational statements were made.

Rapprochement on Caspian

Immediately after Mehdi Safari’s visit, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign
Minister Xalaf Xalafov said he does not rule out that an agreement may
be signed with Iran on the division of the Caspian during President
Ilham Aliyev’s official visit to Tehran in January 2005. “A certain
rapprochement” is being felt in the negotiating process between
Azerbaijan and Iran on the division of the Caspian and “there is
mutual understanding in the parties’ approaches”, Xalafov said.

Incidentally, the opposition and the independent press described
Safari’s visit as “a secret one” because of the lack of any
information on the negotiations although the Iranian president’s
special envoy met President Aliyev, Prime Minister Artur Rasizada and
finally Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov.

After Safari, Iranian Information Minister Ali Yunesi visited Baku and
held negotiations with Azerbaijan’s ruling elite, including the
president.

Yunesi stressed at his meeting with the president that they “are
looking forward” to the Azerbaijani president’s visit to Iran. This
visit will contribute to “peace and stability in the region”, the
guest said. Yunesi noted the high level of cooperation between the two
countries’ special services.

[Passage omitted: protocols on cooperation and memorandum were signed]

Diadem of Iranian visits

However, the diadem of the “Iranian month” in Baku was the visit by
Iranian Defence Minister Ali Shamkhani. It is worth noting that it was
Shamkhani’s first visit to Azerbaijan. The press service of the
Azerbaijani Defence Ministry said before the visit that no documents
were planned to be signed on the outcome of the meeting. And that was
the case. But the statement issued by Shamkhani was more than
eloquent. “Azerbaijan’s security is our security. Our defence
capability is your defence capability. We are ready to establish any
relations with Azerbaijan and there is no force to prevent this,”
Shamkhani said.

Nearly the same scenario was observed during Shamkhani’s meetings with
the Azerbaijani president and the foreign minister.

Thus, visits to Azerbaijan by Iran’s high-ranking dignitaries have
become frequent in recent months. The Azerbaijani president delicately
hinted at this fact at his meeting with Shamkhani.

He said that the recent frequent visits to Azerbaijan by various
official delegations from Iran clearly testify to the expansion of
bilateral relations. In his view, the successful development of
Azerbaijani-Iranian relations serves the cause of strengthening peace
and security in the region.

Azerbaijan could mediate between Iran and USA

One gets the impression that Iran wants to resolve all disputed
problems with Azerbaijan in an accelerated way. Most political
analysts in Baku believe that Iran is at least trying to minimize the
US presence in the region with Russia’s support. The primary objective
here is not to let Azerbaijan become a bridgehead for US troops and
members of the antiterrorist coalition in the fight against Iran.

Informed experts believe that the issue of a US military presence in
Azerbaijan in this or other form will be finally resolved in 2005. All
this may happen under the pretext of protecting the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main export pipeline and offshore fields.

An informed military source told Zerkalo that the purpose of
Shamkhani’s visit to Baku is “to eliminate the clandestine military
confrontation between the two countries” and find out the future of
Azerbaijan’s policy towards Iran. Because many in Baku still remember
the violations of our maritime and air borders by Iranian planes and
vessels.

Zerkalo has found out from informed diplomatic sources that the Tehran
regime suggests that Baku act as a mediator in negotiations with
Washington, since it is not quite sure about the “endurance” of its
only ally in the region, Russia, following the developments in
Ukraine. In return, Iran is ready to settle all disputed issues with
Azerbaijan, as mentioned above, first of all, to provide security
guarantees, or in other words, to promise by means of an agreement
that Iran will never use force to resolve disputed issues between the
two countries. This is how Shamkhani’s statement that “Azerbaijan’s
security is our security” should be interpreted.

“Blackmail”

Besides, the same informed sources also said that Tehran is ready to
sign a bilateral agreement on the status of the Caspian under
conditions offered by [the late Azerbaijani President] Heydar Aliyev
during his official visit to Tehran. In other words, Tehran is ready
to agree to the division of the Caspian into national sectors by a
median line. This being the case, the disputed oil fields will be
exploited jointly.

In return, Tehran wants to get a guarantee that Azerbaijan’s territory
will not be used by the USA to invade or strike Iran. Besides, Tehran
suggests that Baku act as a mediator to resolve the existing problems
with the USA, since it meets Azerbaijan’s interests, too.

Nevertheless, the source said, there is an element of blackmail in
this “bargaining”. The matter is that the representatives of Tehran
made a clear hint during the negotiations that if the USA uses
Azerbaijani territory to invade or carry out missile strikes on Iran,
a retaliatory missile strike on Azerbaijan will be unavoidable.