TEHRAN, September 11. /TASS/. Azerbaijan has vowed not to attack Armenia’s positions, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani said on Monday.

"We stay in touch with the two countries’ authorities and Armenia’s officials have recently expressed concern over a possible attack by Azerbaijan. However, the Baku authorities have reassured us that they don’t plan to attack Armenia’s positions and the recent redeployment of Azerbaijani army units was a regular maneuver ahead of the coming winter when movement along roads becomes difficult," the Fars news agency quoted him as saying.

"Iran is very concerned about security along its northern borders and is keeping a close eye on the situation. We are convinced that the current situation on Iran’s border with the Caucasian states is calm," the diplomat stressed.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on September 7 that Azerbaijan had deployed troops to the border with Armenia and the division line with Nagorno-Karabakh. Baku refuted his statement, but on the following day, it said that Armenia was deploying troops to the border with Azerbaijan. According to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, Armenia was "openly digging new trenches, building defensive installations." Amid the aggravating situation around Nagorno-Karabakh, Yerevan announced joint drills with the United States.

The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the highland region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory that had been part of Azerbaijan before the Soviet Union’s break-up, but primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, broke out in February 1988 after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted in September 2020, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. On November 9, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh. Russian peacekeepers were deployed to the region to ensure the operation of humanitarian corridors. Later, the three leaders adopted several more joint statements on the situation in the region.

At a Council of Europe summit on May 17, 2023, Pashinyan said that Yerevan recognizes Azerbaijan’s sovereignty within the borders incorporating Nagorno-Karabakh.