Tehran, YJC. Iran's Defense Minister says Tehran is ready to meet the “defense requirements” of Azerbaijan.
Iran was host to Azerbaijan’s Minister of Defense who was
hosted by his counterpart Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan on Monday.
"Increased contacts and constructive interaction will lead
to the establishment of complete security and calm on the two countries’
borders,” Dehqan said in a meeting with his Azeri counterpart Colonel General
Zakir Hasanov in Tehran, Press TV reports.
He added that the increasing threat of terrorism and
extremism is the cause of instability and insecurity in the region.
The Iranian minister added that regional countries must
place the rooting out of terrorism, violence and their causes on their agenda.
He warned regional countries that terrorism can spread in
the shortest possible time and "if it is not dealt with decisively it will lead
to the uncontrollable spread of instability and insecurity.”
The Iranian minister said regional and international cooperation
is the only way to counter the serious threat of terrorism.
The Azeri defense minister, for his part, described Iran as
an important friendly country for Azerbaijan, saying cooperation with Tehran is
a foreign policy priority for Baku.
Hasanov threw his country’s weight behind Iran’s peaceful
nuclear energy program and said Baku believes joint efforts by Tehran and the
international community will lead to a final nuclear agreement.
Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security
Council - the US, France, Britain, Russia, China - plus Germany ended their
latest round of talks in the Austrian capital of Vienna on April 9 aimed at
reaching a comprehensive deal on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear energy program.
The two sides had
reached an interim deal in the Swiss city of Geneva on November 24, 2013. The
deal took effect on January 20.