Khamenei: Nagorno-Karabakh must return to Azerbaijan

Iran's supreme leader said on Tuesday that Nagorno-Karabakh must return to Azerbaijan, calling for a prompt end to the ongoing conflict. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei described the fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan as a “bitter incident.”Fighting over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh is now in its sixth week.

Khamenei warned of the presence of "terrorists" in the conflict.Iran "will counter them decisively" if they are close to its borders, he said. Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a war there ended in 1994.

Khamenei, 81, as supreme leader has final say on all matters of state in Iran.In his speech, he also criticised French President Emmanuel Macron over his defence of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad, following the beheading of a teacher in Paris who had shown the cartoons to pupils during a lesson about freedom of expression.

(Image Credit: AP) 

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