Between a rock and hard place: Iran’s dilemma in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
Tehran is sending forces to its borders in anticipation of the Armenian-Azeri conflict spilling over.
In a country where a quarter of the population belongs to the Azeri ethnicity, over 400 miles of border are shared with Azerbaijan and the official version of Islam in both countries is Shiism, it shouldn’t be a very difficult choice to make when the northern neighbor goes to war.
However, there are many reasons for Iran to think twice before siding with Azerbaijan in its recent conflict with Armenia.
Armenia shares about 27 miles of border with the Islamic Republic and plays a positive role as the only Christian neighbor to the sanction-laden country.
Iranians of Armenian origin make up the overwhelming majority of the country’s Christian minority, which number more than 150,000 of the total population of 84 million. As for the Azeris, there is no accurate number, but according to several sources it varies between 10 million and 20 million.
