Armenia Seeks to Benefit from Existing Conflicts Between Iran and Azerbaijan, Reports Kommersant

Armenia is trying to capitalize on the existing conflicts between Iran and Azerbaijan, two countries that have recently found themselves in a diplomatic standoff. This is reported by kommersant.ru, referring to the recent visits of Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan to Tehran and National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan to Moscow.

The author describes the visit to Iran as successful, noting that “the parties managed to reach an agreement on the construction of a road from the Iranian border to Yerevan, which will not pass through Azerbaijani territory.” The source points out that recently, during a meeting with the Armenian community in Vilnius, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan also raised the issue of Iran, promising that “it will never be forgotten” that during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, Iran was a “lifeline” for Armenians.

“I am confident that our Iranian partners know that Armenia has never been involved in and will not engage in conspiracies against Iran, as these relations are extremely important for us,” Pashinyan stated.

The article mentions that at the same time, “the idea of a conspiracy being prepared by Baku, together with its ally, Israel – Iran's sworn enemy – has gained significant traction in Tehran.” Iranian officials have repeatedly emphasized the presence of the “Zionist regime” in neighboring countries, referring to Azerbaijan.

“Nevertheless, Armenia has managed to benefit from the conflict between the two neighboring countries. According to Ararat Mirzoyan and his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, they also discussed issues related to transport communications. This concerns a new road that is to connect Iran with the capital of Armenia,” writes the author, adding that an existing 20 km section of the road is under Azerbaijani control, which recently led to a scandal when Azerbaijani border guards blocked Iranian drivers from traveling that section and demanded tax payments of $100.

“The new road will be named ‘Tatou’. To construct it in a short period, an Iranian delegation headed by the Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development, and the Director of the Agency for Transportation Infrastructure Development, Kheyrolah Khademi, has headed to Yerevan,” the publication notes.

Vardan Voskanyan, head of the Chair of Iranian Studies at the Oriental Studies Faculty of the Eurasian State University, expressed in an interview with Kommersant that the escalation of tensions between Iran and Azerbaijan opens up great opportunities for Armenia in deepening defense and security cooperation with Tehran.

“Considering the Iranian Foreign Minister’s statement about the presence of terrorists in Azerbaijan, Yerevan could intensify cooperation with the Iranians regarding joint anti-terrorism operations. On the other hand, Armenia can become a platform for deepening tripartite cooperation on this matter in active collaboration with Iran and Russia,” noted the Iran expert.

“The foreign policy activities of Armenian leaders on Monday were not limited to the Iranian direction. On the same day, Speaker of Parliament Alen Simonyan traveled to Moscow, where he met with his Russian counterpart Vyacheslav Volodin, as well as with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Federation Council Chairwoman Valentina Matviyenko. Discussions regarding the created situation in the region are set to continue in Moscow over the coming days; on October 6, the Iranian Foreign Minister will also travel to Moscow. Additionally, it has been revealed that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will travel to Moscow in the coming days,” the article concludes.