Islam Times - IRGC Commander Warns against Geopolitical Border Change in Regions Around Iran

Islam Times - Islamic Revolution Ground Force Commander Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour said any threat that harms people’s security and calm will receive Iran’s countermeasure, but further warned that his country would not tolerate any change in the geopolitical borders in regions close to Iran.

“Any insecurity and threat that damages the security and psychological calm of our dear people will face our countermeasures,” Brigadier General Pakpour said during his third visit on Saturday to the Northwestern borders of Iran with the neighboring Azerbaijan Republic and Armenia, and added, “Basically, people’s security and national interests of our country are our redline.”

“The Islamic Republic is opposed to any occupation and aggression and condemns it,” he said, pointing to the recent clashes between the two Caucasian countries over the disputed Karabakh region.

"Since the first days of recent clashes between Republic of Azerbaijan and Armenia, IRGC Ground Force’s Ashura Base has been active in the border area, monitoring border developments,” the commander said, adding, “Necessary measures and reinforcements have been taken in accordance with the new situation."

“Deployment of IRGC Ground Force units will be in line with the goals and protection of national interests as well as providing security and calm to the people of the region,” Pakpour reiterated.

“The territorial integrity of neighboring countries is respectable to us,” he stressed, and warned, “Any change in border geopolitics is a red line of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the highland region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory that had been part of Azerbaijan before the Soviet Union break-up, but primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, broke out in February 1988 after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic.