"If you look into the past, you see that Iran in the most difficult times tried to resolve the crisis between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Now, if Azerbaijan and Armenia want, Iran will be ready to mediate in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," the diplomat said at a briefing in Tehran, according to the Azerbaijan Press Agency.

He also said that Azerbaijani and Iranian diplomats were in talks on a possible visit by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to Iran.

The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan began in 1988, after the predominantly Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh autonomous region announced its secession from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. Nagorno-Karabakh proclaimed its independence in 1991, prompting a war that lasted until a Russia-brokered ceasefire was signed in 1994. In September 2015, the conflict escalated with the sides blaming each other for violating the truce.

The OSCE Minsk Group, co-chaired by the United States, Russia and France, has been mediating the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict since 1992.

 

(Sputnik)