WikiLeaks:FM of Azerbaijan stated Iran wants NK conflict to go on

The FM of Azerbaijan in the documents issued by WikiLeaks

In a December 14 one-on-one meeting with the Ambassador, Foreign Minister Mammadyarov said that recent Iranian activities (the fueling of demonstrations in Nardaran with respect to the anti-Islam article published in Sanat, recent demonstrations in front of the Azerbaijani Consulate General and Embassy - ref c) are intended to "send a message to us that they won't wait" while Azerbaijan moves towards NATO and the US, and on a possible resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. He pointed to a recent statement by Supreme Leader Khamenei that "Azerbaijan should not feel comfortable with respect to NATO," saying Iran is "watching our policy in this area very carefully." In addition, he said Iran "doesn't want us to make a move towards conflict resolution because they know the conflict is the only serious problem" facing Azerbaijan, and that if continued it keeps Azerbaijan off base and under pressure. He also said that Russia's and Iran's positions on this are very close.

Mammadyarov repeated what he had told the Ambassador some months ago, that the Iranians are developing different "scenarios" for how they will react if the US or Israel. Mammadyarov feels that Iran does not want Azerbaijan to make a move on NK resolution because the withdrawal of Armenian troops from Azerbaijani territory will make Azerbaijan stronger in the region. Mammadyarov believes that Iran does not want Azerbaijan, as a secular Muslim country, to succeed as a model. Poverty in the ethnic Azeri provinces in the north of Iran is "like the middle ages" and as people travel back and forth from Azerbaijan to Iran the contrast is evident. Mammadyarov argued that it is in Iran's national interest to see the conflict continue, and, hence, the Iranian government is exerting increased pressure at any sign of steps towards a resolution.