Iran\'s ambassador to Georgia Hossein Aminian Tousi said here Monday that Iran is prepared to assist in resolving the Abkhazia dispute in Georgia. He also declared Iran\'s full support for Georgian territorial integrity and sovereignty, adding, \"establishment of peace and security in the Caucuses is an Iran\'s important foreign policy priority.\" He said the upcoming visit by the Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze to Iran will help to further cement the already cordial ties as well as bolstering regional security. Abkhazia is a region located 180 km northeast of the capital Tbilisi and was granted an autonomous status as part of Georgia in the former Soviet Union. Following the break-up of the USSR in 1991 and Abkhazia\'s declared independence from Georgia, military clashes ensued between the republic and the government in Tbilisi ending in cessation of hostilities in 1993. Earlier in April Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi told Shevardnadze that security in southern Caucasus is of the utmost importance to the Islamic Republic. \"Regional countries must play their role in guaranteeing security (in southern Caucasus) in order to achieve economic development,\" Kharrazi said. Southern Caucasus has been wracked by territorial dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh as well as rebel insurgency, carried out from Panikisi Gorge in Georgia, drawing the country in one point to the brink of a military showdown with Russia. (Irib-News)