14.07.2023, Tehran.
The Russian leadership should pay close attention to what is happening in Transcaucasia, said Ali Akbar Velayati, senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader on foreign affairs, the Tehran Times wrote on July 13.
The statement was made in an article by Velayati analyzing trends in contemporary global politics.
The Iranian leader’s adviser emphasizes, “Our prediction is that Russia will win in Ukraine, even if it requires additional losses.”
However, according to the Iranian politician, the focus on the Ukrainian events “has led to a certain neglect of the Caucasus region. <…> And now the European Union, the United States and Israel are interfering in the events in the Transcaucasus region. If this trend continues, there will be a threat to the security of the entire region”.
“Our Russian friends should be careful and know that any slight negligence in the Caucasus will turn it into a place of invasion by malevolent countries that will attack the interests of Russia and Iran,” Velayati said.
The adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader notes that “now, in the midst of hostilities in Ukraine, we are witnessing another change in Turkey’s policy. In recent days, it has been reported that Turkey has agreed to approve Sweden’s accession to NATO. It has also handed over part of the Azov forces [organization banned in Russia] to Ukraine. As these changes in positions are taking place, the issue of Turkey’s ties to Azerbaijan, which Iran opposes, has also surfaced in the last month.”
“We believe that the issue of establishing a link between Istanbul and Xinjiang, more than signifying practical steps in the implementation of the pan-Turkist project, given the extent of Turkey’s ties with NATO, would create a strip that would encircle Iran from the north and Russia from the south and spread NATO’s influence in the region,” Velayati notes.
“Any neglect and oversimplification of the problems of the Caucasus and its tangled contradictions will result in Iran and Russia’s adversaries not limiting their intentions to the Transcaucasus region, but also extending their influence to the North Caucasus and, most importantly, to the Caspian Sea and the countries around it. This should be a red line for Iran and Russia,” the advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader concluded.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
