Baku Interested in Positive Development of Ties With Tehran

Azerbaijan’s foreign minister said Baku has always been interested in the positive development of relations with Tehran despite recent tensions between the two neighbors. 
“Tehran-Baku relations are very important for Azerbaijan from the point of view of regional development and security,” Jeyhun Bayramov said, Trend News Agency reported. 
He said there are many economic projects between Azerbaijan and Iran, some of them are being implemented, while some are being discussed. 
Along this line, a meeting of the co-chairs of the Azerbaijani-Iranian intergovernmental commission is planned in the future, according to Bayramov. 
“At this meeting, negotiations will be held on transport, energy, water resources sharing and a number of other areas. We believe that the meeting will have positive results,” he said.
During a visit to Baku to attend the Ministerial Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement last week, Iran’s top diplomat Hossein Amir-Abdollahian held a meeting with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, where they discussed mutual relations, as well as important regional and international issues. 
He applauded the growing dynamism in the development of economic and trade relations between Iran and Azerbaijan. Aliyev said the positive dynamism in bilateral relations is a source of delight for the Azerbaijani government as well. 
The two sides had very extensive discussions about opening communications in the region, consequently agreeing to activate the South Araz corridor in the future, according to Amir-Abdollahian. 
“This will give an impetus to Iranian-Azerbaijani relations in the field of communications. We can say that this corridor will play a very important role in connecting the main part of Azerbaijan with Nakhchivan,” he said.

Resolving Disagreements 

Bayramov later said that although there has been tension between the two countries for “very serious reasons”, Azerbaijan highly appreciates the recent Amir-Abdollahian’s visit to Baku and his meeting with Azerbaijan’s president. 
Thanks to this meeting, he said, it became possible to openly discuss all the issues and topics that caused the tension. 
“We see Iran’s intention to take serious steps toward resolving disagreements; in this case, Azerbaijan will take adequate and reciprocal steps,” he said. 
An attack by a gunman on the Azerbaijani embassy in Tehran in January that killed one of the security staff has caused some extent of friction between the two states, with Azerbaijan calling it a “terrorist act” and evacuating most of the personnel. 
Tehran did not consider the attack to be politically motivated, maintaining that it was committed on personal grounds. 
Iran announced soon after that it had started investigating the matter, with the Azerbaijani side doing the same.
Primary investigations by the Iranian police suggested the motive to be personal, with family issues. 
Bayramov said that Azerbaijan’s investigations into the attack are nearing completion, saying Baku expects that the perpetrators will be punished in the most serious way. 
He said it will be possible to plan the resumption of the activities of the diplomatic mission after the security of Azerbaijani embassy is fully ensured. 
During his meeting in Baku, Amir-Abdollahian briefed the Azerbaijani president about the latest judicial and police investigations into the attack on Azerbaijan’s embassy, hoping that the diplomatic office would resume its operation soon. 
Aliyev expressed hope that the perpetrator of the attack would receive appropriate sentence in Iran.