Iran's military has called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to resolve their disputes through peaceful means and stressed that Tehran "will not tolerate border changes in the region" following recent clashes between the two countries.
The Chief of the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Mohamad Hosein Baqueri, has stressed that Iran "opposes any war" and "will not remain silent", as reported by the Iranian news agency Mehr.
He also warned the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf against Israel's activities in the region and stressed that "if Iran feels a threat, it will respond against the elements of the Zionist regime and those who support it". In this sense, he reiterated that the United States and Israel "threaten security in the region" and stated that "if they make a mistake, the Iranian Armed Forces will give a decisive and devastating response".
Earlier on Thursday, the Azeri Defense Ministry denounced in a statement published on its website a "provocation" by the Armenian Army in the direction of the Kalbajar region, before stressing that this "attempt" had been "suppressed".
Thus, he indicated that the Armenian forces "used large caliber weapons, grenade launchers and mortars" against positions of the Azerbaijani Army in Kalbajar and added that "a sabotage group of the Armenian Army tried to storm a unit" with the use of mines.
"It should be noted that the Armenian side, by disseminating disinformation about alleged Azerbaijani Army firing on September 21, tried to pave the way for provocation," he has stressed, while accusing Yerevan of any outbreak of new fighting.
The Armenian Defense Ministry had reported on Wednesday a serviceman wounded by Azerbaijani Armed Forces firing at military positions on the border. "The enemy's firing was stopped by responsive actions," it zanelled.
The governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed last week to a cease-fire following the latest clashes on the border, which resulted in more than 200 deaths. The fighting is the most serious since 2020, when they clashed over control of Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory with a majority Armenian population that has been the focus of conflict since it decided to secede in 1988 from the Soviet-integrated region of Azerbaijan.
These clashes ceased when the two countries reached a Russian-mediated cease-fire agreement allowing Russian peacekeepers to settle in Nagorno Karabakh for a period of five years.