AZERI ANALYST SAYS IRAN UNLIKELY TO BROKER KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT

Day.az
April 20 2010
Azerbaijan

An Azerbaijani political expert believes Iran’s fresh initiative to
broker a solution to the protracted Karabakh problem is doomed to fail.

Iran wants to host a meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign
ministers in Tehran in a bid to seek a solution to the conflict between
Armenia and Azerbaijan, Russian-language Day.az news agency has said.

In a comment on Tehran’s move, Azerbaijani political expert Zardust
Alizada downplayed Iran’s zeal to play a decisive role for the
resolution of the conflict.

"The Foreign Ministry of Iran needs to demonstrate to the people of
Iran, the world community its capacity and wish to play a peacekeeping
role in the region. Hence, they are trying to prove to the domestic
audience that Iran as usual is an important geopolitical player.

However, Tehran understands well that superpowers will not let
Iran strengthen its influence neither globally, nor in the region,"
Alizada told Day.az.

Against the backdrop of the latest row between Azerbaijan and the
USA, Iran seems ready to take advantage of this opportunity to bring
the parties to the conflict to the negotiating table to improve its
standing, the report added.