Armenia’s Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan on Thursday met with Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who is on a regional tour to promote what Tehran calls its proposal for ending the current fighting and the Karabakh conflict.

According to the foreign ministry press office the current situation of the war unleashed by Azerbaijan on Artsakh was discussed, which included a conversation about regional security concerns.

The sides expressed concerns over the deployment of terrorists in the region, agreeing that the involvement Ankara-backed mercenaries posed a serious threat to the the region.

Mnatsakanyan said that Armenia understands that Iran is sensitive toward the new regional threats and highlighted the role of Iran in advancing stability and peace in the region.
.
Araghchi presented Iran’s proposal for current situation and establishing a ceasefire.

While the specific details of the plan were not publicized, Mnatsakanyan said that Iran’s proposals would be reviewed in detail.

The Armenian foreign minister also briefed Araghchi about his upcoming meeting with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, scheduled for Friday in Geneva.

Araghchi, who is Iran’s special envoy on Nagorno-Karabakh, arrived in Yerevan Thursday after visiting Moscow and Baku respectively.

In Moscow, Araghchi met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko and called the closed-door session “very fruitful” in a Twitter post.

“Iran and Russia share similar approaches toward Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” Aragchi wrote on Twitter.

In an interview with the Russian RIA Novosti news agency Mnatsakanyan praised Tehran saying, “Iran is a very important country in the region and unlike Turkey, it takes a constructive and responsible position regarding regional and global security issues.”

Turkey is not an impartial player, as it sees the conflict as an opportunity to penetrate another of its neighbors in the South Caucasus,” said Mnatsakanyan. “Only impartial countries can participate in the mechanism for sending peacekeepers to Nagorno-Karabakh, Mnatsakanyan reiterated.”

According to a statement Araghchi released in Moscow he called the OSCE Minsk Group “inefficient.”

“The Minsk Group [of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe] has shown its inefficiency,” said Araghchi.

“It has been 30 years since the Minsk Group was formed, but it has not been able to find a long-term solution to the problem,” said Araghchi in a statement released Iran’s Embassy in Moscow.

“My meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev lasted for about an hour and a half. Azerbaijani officials have a positive attitude towards Tehran’s plan to establish lasting peace in the region,” Araghchi said, reported IRNA news agency.

Araghchi added that according to the plan drafted in Tehran, ceasefire is to be established after certain initial steps. The Iranian diplomat did not elaborate.