YEREVAN. – According to the diplomatic sources of Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper, Iran is quite concerned by the ongoing negotiations over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“Various statements are made about some details of the negotiations.

“Iran is concerned by the so-called Lavrov plan [named after Russian Federation (RF) Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov], according to which the Armenian side shall hand over five regions to Azerbaijan.

“Iran considers the likelihood of such a change on its border [to be] against its interests, and it is trying to somehow impact on this process.

“It is no coincidence that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will be in Azerbaijan during RF President Vladimir Putin’s visit to [the Azerbaijani capital city of] Baku in August.

“There is a view that the he [i.e. Rouhani] will also raise his concerns about returning the five liberated regions of the NKR [i.e. Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (Artsakh)],” wrote Haykakan Zhamanak.