Iran bans trucks travelling to the Karabakh

Iran has banned its citizens from transporting goods to Nagorno-Karabakh.

The statement came from Mohammad Javad Hidayati, head of Iran's International Transport and Highway Transit and Transport Organisation.

Azerbaijan has long protested against the transportation of Iranian cars to the Karabakh. Last month, Baku began controlling the Goris-Kapan road, where Iranian vehicles travel and began imposing customs duties on Iranian trucks.

According to the document sent by the Road and Transport Organisation to transport companies, Iranian citizens and drivers are prohibited from entering the Nagorno-Karabakh and Lachin regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and any entry into the territory of Azerbaijan outside its official borders is a violation of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity.

According to a report, Mohammad Javad Hidayati, who sent a letter to the trade unions of international transport companies about the ban, refers to the decision of the Iranian Foreign Ministry dated October 9.

Relations between Baku and Tehran have been strained since the dispute over the arrival of Iranian trucks in Karabakh.

These relations have intensified since September when Baku began to control the part of the Goris-Kapan road passing through the territory of Azerbaijan and checked the documents of drivers of Iranian trucks.

In addition, two drivers carrying goods to the Karabakh were detained for entering Azerbaijan illegally and a criminal case was opened against them.

Azerbaijan has returned two Iranian drivers detained

Azerbaijan has returned two Iranian drivers detained according to a statement from the Customs Committee.

In September this year, Azerbaijan began to control the part of the Goris-Kapan road that passes through its territory. Relations between Baku and Tehran have soured since Azerbaijani law enforcement agencies started checking the documents of Iranian drivers using the road and subjected them to customs duties. Two Iranian drivers were arrested on charges of illegal entry into Azerbaijan.

"Based on the principles of humanism, mutual respect, and good neighbourliness and goodwill, the citizens of the Islamic Republic of Iran Barzegar Haghi Jafar Ghazanfar and Norouzi Shahroud Heidar were returned to their countries in the morning of October 21," the committee said.

The Customs Committee states that these individuals were detained for violating customs regulations, including crossing the protected state border of Azerbaijan "without proper documents and outside checkpoints, illegally."