Armenian and Azerbaijani analysts agree on assessment of détente between Baku and Tehran

Iran tried to restrict air traffic between Azerbaijan and the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic (NAR), but those measures are ineffective, expert Azad Isazade notes. Iranian cargo carriers will not have any conflicts with Azerbaijani border guards on the road from Goris to Kapan, because they will wait for the opening of an alternative road, Armenian experts for Iranian studies suggest.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on September 11, an Azerbaijani police checkpoint was opened in the border area between the Armenian cities of Goris and Kapan. In September, two Iranian truck drivers were detained by the Azerbaijani police on the charge of illegal border crossing. However, on October 21, the truck drivers were released after Iran had banned their truck drivers from passing through the territory of Armenia to the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. The tension between Baku and Tehran are declining, observers note.

According to Emma Bezhanyan, an expert for Iranian studies, the conflict between Iran and Azerbaijan is on the decline. The expert associates the arrest of Iranian truck drivers with the Azerbaijan’s intention to get Iran to refuse cargo transportation to Karabakh.

Goar Iskandaryan, an expert for Iranian studies, believes that the Iranian-Azerbaijani conflict is frozen. The expert notes that the development of events is related to the geopolitical situation in the region.

Saak Shakhmuradyan, a political observer for Iran, suggests that the conflict was only partially smoothed out. The expert believes that the tension between Iran and Azerbaijan remains.

Azerbaijan will continue to charge a fee from Iranian truck drivers, but carriers will refrain from transporting cargos to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh until a new road through Tatev is put into operation, Saak Shakhmuradyan adds.