US Secretary of State Blinken warns of Azerbaijani invasion threat to Armenia

Azerbaijan is preparing an invasion of southern Armenia - it may take place in the coming weeks, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a conversation with a group of U.S. congressmen, Politico reports.

According to the publication, Baku wants to plot a route to the autonomous republic of Nakhichevan, an exclave that borders Turkiye and Iran. In this regard, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev previously demanded that Armenia open the so-called Zangezur corridor, about 40 km long, through the Syunik region and threatened to resolve the issue "by force" in case of refusal.

Speaking to Blinken on October 3, lawmakers pushed for sanctions against Aliyev in response to the incursion into Nagorno-Karabakh on September 19-20. The Secretary of State replied that the State Department is looking for opportunities to hold Azerbaijan accountable and does not plan to extend the document, which allows the United States to provide military assistance to Baku.

The State Department declined to comment on Blinken's conversation with the congressmen, but stressed the commitment to Armenia's "sovereignty and territorial integrity," as well as resolving the conflict through "direct talks."

Indirectly, the conversation with Blinken was confirmed by Senator from New Jersey Frank Pallone, who called for sanctions against Azerbaijan.

“Aliyev is moving forward with his objective to take Southern Armenia. There's no doubt that his regime is emboldened after facing little consequences for the invasion of Artsakh (as Karabakh is called in Armenia)," he wrote on X (Twitter) on October 12.

The agreement to open transport routes to Nakhichevan without mention of specific routes was laid down in the trilateral agreement of 2020, after the end of the second war in Karabakh. Recently, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that he did not give Turkiye or Azerbaijan any reason to use the terminology of the Zangezur Corridor.

"In Armenia, this is perceived as territorial claims and a demand for an extraterritorial corridor. We have not made any promises to anyone according to this terminology. There is no such thing in the 2020 trilateral statement," Pashinyan said.

At the end of September, Aliyev and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met in Nakhichevan, who raised this topic. The latter suggested that the corridor from Azerbaijan to the exclave could pass through Iran if Armenia does not allow it to do it in its territory. Tehran has previously opposed the use of force in Yerevan in order to open the route through Armenian territory.