TEHRAN -- Foreign ministers of Iran and Azerbaijan held discussions on ways to resolve existing misunderstandings and issues pertaining to mutual relations amid soaring tensions between the two neighboring countries.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian and his Azeri counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov held two rounds of detailed talks on Friday night and Saturday about the developments in Tehran-Baku relations and some regional issues. They stressed the importance of respecting good neighborliness, national sovereignty and

territorial integrity. Amir-Abdollahian warned of the Zionist regime’s plots against unity, security and progress of the countries in the region and said, “Only enemies benefit from the existence of differences among regional countries.”
The top Iranian and Azeri diplomats also stressed the need to direct media campaign in line with mutual interests.
Azerbaijan’s relations with Iran were strained in January following an attack on the Eurasian country’s embassy in Tehran.
Azerbaijan closed its diplomatic mission following the incident and evacuated staff over what it called a “terrorist act,” with President Ilham Aliyev blaming it on the “Iranian establishment.”
This is while an initial investigation pointed to “personal and family-related problems” as the motive of the assailant.
Azerbaijan said on Thursday it has declared four Iranian embassy employees persona non grata, claiming the diplomats conducted “provocative actions” in the latest deterioration of relations between the two neighbors.
The move came hours after Baku said it arrested six men, who it claimed were linked to Iranian secret services and were plotting a coup in the Caspian nation.
In a statement on Friday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said Tehran would take “diplomatic countermeasures” in response to Azerbaijan’s radical and unconstructive positions against Iranian teachers and diplomats residing in Baku.