IRAN READY TO RESUME MEDIATING MISSION

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
June 11 2008

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Alireza Sheikh-Attar has said
Tehran was ready to resume its mediation in the settlement to the
Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict.

"Iran used to act as a mediator in the Garabagh
settlement. Unfortunately, our country was estranged from mediation
as a result of outside forces’ influence. But if a relevant proposal
is made by both sides, we are ready to undertake the mediating mission
again," Sheikh-Attar told a news conference in Baku last week.

The deputy minister said that although Iran did not deem the activity
of the mediating OSCE Minsk Group as satisfactory, it supported peace
talks under way within this framework. He reaffirmed that Tehran
backs Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.

Sheikh-Attar regarded as a provocation the reports circulating that
Iranian companies are cooperating with the separatist regime in
Upper Garabagh. He rebuffed the allegations that a telecommunications
company from Iran was collaborating with the self-proclaimed republic.

Commenting on the new Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian’s
recent visit to Iran, Sheikh-Attar said Iran has 15 neighbors, and
such visits paid within good neighborhood relations are normal. He
added that no issues against Azerbaijan were discussed in Ohanian’s
meetings with Iranian officials.

Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict for over a
decade. Peace talks brokered by the OSCE Minsk Group kicked off after
a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a cease-fire in 1994,
but have brought little tangible result so far. Armenia continues
to occupy Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh and seven adjacent Azerbaijani
districts in defiance of international law.