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Iran is ready to assist the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Iranian Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani was quoted by IRNA as saying at a meeting with head of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Ramiz Mehdiyev. 

Issues related to bilateral ties were in the focus of the discussion.

Visiting Secretary of Azerbaijan's National Security Council Ramiz Mehdiyev also met with Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili in Tehran. No further details are reported. 

The modern phase of the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) conflict broke out in 1988, when, as a response to the peaceful demand for self-determination of the people of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), annexed to Soviet Azerbaijan in 1921, the Azerbaijani authorities carried out ethnic cleansing of Armenians – at first in the big cities of Azerbaijan, and then in Artsakh.

In September 1991 Artsakh declared independence, and, as a result, Azerbaijan exacerbated the violences and started large-scale military actions against Artsakh. After number of defeats on the frontlines, in May 1994 Azerbaijan was forced ask for a cease-fire from the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic).

Currently, the negotiations on the settlement of the conflict are being conducted under the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs (Russia, USA and France), based on the Madrid proposals, presented in November 2007.