Tehran, Iran, March 4
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
Relations between Iran and Azerbaijan are strategic in many regards, especially under current circumstances when Tehran has been freed from international sanctions, says Masoud Ahmadi Nia, an expert in Azerbaijan affairs.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's recent visit to Iran was a turning point in bilateral relations between the two countries, Ahmadi Nia told Trend March 4.
Iranian and Azerbaijani officials signed 12 memorandums of understanding on the sidelines of a meeting between President Aliyev and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran Feb. 23.
Ahmadi Nia said that with the agreements signed during President Aliyev's visit, legal grounds were paved for closer cooperation of the two countries.
The expert said the North-South corridor is one of the areas of interest in the two countries' relations.
"This [the corridor], on one hand, can help Azerbaijan connect to the Middle East more closely. Iran, for its part, can use Azerbaijan's territory to connect to Russia," he explained.
Ahmadi Nia added that the two countries can also cooperate on political and security grounds, regarding the growing threat of terrorism in Syria and drug trafficking.