The Iranian deputy foreign minister and head of the Iranian Foreign Ministry's Centre for Political and International Studies, Mohammad Kazem Sajjadpour, arrived in Baku on a three-day visit.

The Iranian embassy in Azerbaijan said that the diplomat attended a trilateral meeting of the Iranian, Azerbaijani and Turkish research centres.

Previously, the Iranian ambassador in Baku held several meetings with senior Azerbaijani officials after Azerbaijan detained two Iranian lorry drivers on the Armenian border over deliveries to the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region.

In the meantime, Azerbaijan media have reported that Iran has started military manoeuvres along the whole of its border with Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijani pro-government MP Rasim Musabayov said Iran informed Baku of its military manoeuvres and said that they are not against Azerbaijan. However, Azerbaijani media said the exercises were in response to Azerbaijan's recent actions on the Goris-Kapan road on the Armenian border and the joint drills by Turkey, Azerbaijan and Pakistan held in Azerbaijan on 12-20 September.

On 17 September, Iran's Ardabil Friday Prayer Imam Ayatollah Seyyed Hasan Ameli criticised the joint exercises by Turkey, Azerbaijan and Pakistan and called on the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps to hold manoeuvres near the Azerbaijani border in order to show Iran's power.