Expert highlights Iranian president's remarkable comments during Azerbaijan trip

Iran specialist Vardan Voskanyan has called attention to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s remarkable statements in Sunday's interview with Azerbaijan’s national television station AzTV.

"I am not sure whether Baku’s barbaric regime has fully grasped the nuances of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s interview with Azerbaijan’s state-run AzTV yesterday. However, some of his comments were quite remarkable," Voskanyan said in a social media post on Monday.

During the interview, Pezeshkian particularly emphasized that Iran considers the people of Azerbaijan as “their own” and downplayed the significance of the border between the two countries.

"These diplomatically potent statements must have unsettled Baku’s barbaric leadership, as it is hardly flattering for Baku’s dictator to hear the Iranian president refer to the people of Azerbaijan, whom Ilham Aliyev views as his subjects, as kin,” Voskanyan argued.

The expert highlighted that Baku’s propaganda machine had been eagerly promoting the narrative that Iran's new president is of Azerbaijani rather than purely Persian descent.

"It could create the unintended risk that ordinary people in artificial Azerbaijan could mentally associate Masoud Pezeshkian not only with Iran but also view him as a potential leader for themselves, especially when the Iranian president himself suggests that the border between the two countries is of little importance,” he added.

Pezeshkian is currently on an official visit to Azerbaijan.