TEHRAN -- Activities of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Central Asia and Caucasus have not alleviated the region’s security concerns, Deputy Foreign Minister Alireza Sheikh-Attar said here on Monday.

Persistence of political disputes between the regional countries proves that the extra-regional organizations are incapable of establishing peace and security in the region, Sheikh-Attar told an opening ceremony of the fifteenth international conference on Central Asia and Caucasus started in Tehran on Oct. 29 and will run until today with a focus on the influence of NATO on Eurasian region.
For more than half a decade, NATO has been considered the most important military and security organization in the European-Atlantic region, whereas it was expected that it would terminate its activities after the Warsaw Pact was dismantled, he stated.
Now this organization has become a military-security tool for the West through which it implements its major objectives that includes a presence in the region, he added.
The expansion of NATO and admittance of new members will only serve the long-term interests of global powers and a domination of unilateralism in the world, he observed.
NATO’s major objective in the region is to guard the West’s security and guarantee the block’s access to energy resources, the veteran diplomat commented.
Iran canplay key role in regional stability: Armenia MP
An Armenian lawmaker said on Monday that the Islamic Republic of Iran can play a decisive role in bolstering peace and stability in the region.
Making the remarks at the seminar, Stepan Zackaryan referred to historical and cultural commonalties between Iran and Armenia, saying that Tehran has had appropriate and enhanced cooperation with Yerevan since the independence of Armenia.
Zackaryan further pointed to the NATO performance in the Central Asia region, saying that some regional countries have lost their trust in NATO because of discriminatory behaviors of the western states.
If international regulations give the opportunity to certain powers to violate them easily, other nations will definitely disagree with global treaties including NATO Treaty, Zackaryan added.
The 15th International Seminar on Central Asia and Caucasus was held in participation of ambassadors, researchers and thinkers from 25 countries at Iran's Foreign Ministry Research Cente