Iran urges enhanced ties with Azerbaijan in fight against terror, cyber crimes

Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani-Fazli has urged the strengthening of cooperation with Azerbaijan in different fields including the fight against smuggling of illicit drugs, Takfiri terrorism and cyber crimes.

In a meeting with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev in Baku on Monday, Rahmani-Fazli said the two countries must also boost cooperation on responding to natural disasters.

Aliyev, for his part, said the scourge of terrorism has been imposed on regional countries from outside the region, calling on regional states to bolster their cooperation and unity to counter such a threat.

The Azeri president also expressed his country’s readiness to further improve relations with Iran in different sectors.

‘World powers intervene in region, help terrorists’

Meanwhile, in a meeting with Azerbaijan’s Interior Minister Ramil Usubov on Monday, Rahmani-Fazli said security was the cornerstone of stability and development.

He pointed to the spread of instability and extremism in the region and said, “Unfortunately, world powers are interfering in the internal affairs of regional countries and provide terrorist groups with political, financial and logistical assistance.”

“We are currently witnessing a small-scale world war in Syria and [therefore] must further improve cooperation and use each other’s experience to solve regional issues,” the Iranian interior minister added.

He emphasized that any kind of extremism is “irrational and unacceptable.”

Rahmani-Fazli referred to interfering measures taken by the US and Zionists to defeat the campaign against terrorist and extremist groups, adding that they are playing a role in the expansion of extremism and terrorism.

The Iranian minister further said Iran and Azerbaijan have secure border areas and called for more efforts to facilitate visits between the two countries’ enterprises to expand their economic activities.

The Azeri minister, for his part, said Baku was keen to improve cooperation with Tehran in the fight against terrorism, organized crimes as well as human and drug trafficking.

He hailed Iran’s support for Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity over the past 25 years.