IRANIAN DELEGATION TO SUPERVISE AZERBAIJANI ELECTIONS.

An Iranian parliamentary delegation is leaving for Baku to monitor the forthcoming parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan. Announcing the news, the Iranian ambassador to Azerbaijan, Alireza Bigdeli, also said that Azerbaijani president Heydar Aliyev would be visiting Iran in the near future to pave the way for the further expansion of Tehran-Baku relations. A joint Iranian-Azerbaijani economic commission would be set up during Aliyev’s visit, he added. (14) The first parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan since the collapse of the Soviet Union are scheduled to take place on November 12. Ties between Baku and Tehran have been strained recently over Azerbaijan’s cancellation of joint oil projects with Iran as a result of pressure from Washington. Iran also tilts toward Armenia in the Karabakh conflict, supports Russia’s resistance to Azerbaijan’s international oil projects, and is not interested in a stable and prosperous Azerbaijan that might become attractive to Iran’s own Azeri population.

Russia, Iran Reaffirm Joint Opposition To Western Interests In Caspian.