President outraged by Iran’s minister

A statement by Iran’s energy minister made in a meeting with President Aliyev last week concerning Tehran’s determination to unilaterally embark on the Khudafarin energy project triggered Aliyev’s utter indignation, as the latter immediately closed the meeting.

The project was signed for by Tehran and Baku back in the Soviet times, but was suspended due to Armenian occupation of the contract territory. The agreement called for construction of a power station on the borderline Araz river.

The President was outraged after Iranian minister’s remark that Tehran had held talks with Yerevan, which has agreed to provide security guarantees for the project implementation.

Mr. Biteref said Iran could wait for the commencement of the work for another year, but if the liberation of Azeri lands takes longer than that, then "we are wasting time".

In response, H. Aliyev stated, "If the lands are not liberated, who are you going to build the dam with? With Armenia? Is this land Armenia's? This is out of the question, therefore, I warn you: until a peace treaty with Armenia is signed and lands freed, construction of Khudafarin is ruled out".

Opening of the Imishli-Parsabad electricity transmission line on March 27 and Azeri-Iranian energy cooperation were also discussed during the meeting.

At the beginning of the meeting, the Iranian minister voiced his satisfaction with the fact that opening of the line finalized the agreement on selling Iranian electrical energy to Nakhchivan and opened a new agreement on the transit of electrical energy from Azerbaijan via Iran to Nakhchivan.

"Talks have started on joining the electricity lines of the two countries in Astara and it is very important to join the high-voltage lines. In other words, there are tremendous opportunities for cooperation", Mr. Biteraf said.

Congratulating the delegation on the opening of the Imishli-Parsabad line, H. Aliyev suggested that cooperation be continued, in particular through construction of the Ordubad power station, the agreement on which was signed in Tehran in 1994.

"The matter delays probably because my visit to Iran is being postponed, but this has certain objective reasons that have nothing to do with Azeri-Iranian relations", H. Aliyev said.

He explained that he is extremely busy attending to the Garabagh settlement and liberation of the occupied territories. "While you are friends and partners with them, we want to get rid of this occupation", the President said.