Being located in the vicinity of Armenia and Azerbaijan republics` war zones, Iran is naturally more sensitive about this issue than the other regional countries.
Armenia and Azerbaijan thus remain officially at war over Karabakh and the dispute is a major source of tension in the South Caucasus region wedged between Iran, Russia and Turkey.
No country - not even Armenia - officially recognizes Karabakh as an independent state.
The mountainous rebel region has been controlled by ethnic Armenians since it broke free of Baku`s control after a fierce war in the early 1990s that killed 30,000 people.
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