NATO NOT PLANNING MILITARY INVASION OF IRAN – ALLIANCE REPRESENTATIVE

Central Asia General Newswire
April 11, 2006 Tuesday 5:29 PM MSK

NATO has no plans to stage a military invasion of Iran, said NATO
Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia Robert
Simmons.

Speaking at a news briefing in Baku on Tuesday following negotiations
with the Azerbaijani leadership, Simmons said, however, that NATO is
concerned about the situation in Iran and hopes that the negotiating
process involving three of its members, Germany, the UK and France,
will be completed successfully.

Azeri Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov said Baku is also concerned
by how the Iran crisis will be resolved, due to the geographical
proximity of the two states.

Azerbaijan is following the negotiating process with Iran closely,
he said.

“The problem is currently being discussed at the UN Security Council,
and we hope that it will be resolved at a political, diplomatic level,”
Azimov said.

Azimov also pointed out that, while the Iranian nuclear problem poses
a strategic threat to Azerbaijan, the Metsamor nuclear power plant
functioning in neighboring Armenia is a real threat to Azerbaijan’s
and the entire region’s security, which, he said, has been confirmed
by international experts.