28 Million Drams for a Commercial Attaché: Iran is Also Being Persuaded That 'Trump's Path' is the Only Way to the World

Starting April 1, 2025, Haik Nazaryan has been appointed as the Commercial Attaché of Armenia in the Islamic Republic of Iran for a three-year term by the decision of the Prime Minister.

The Armenian government is allocating a significant amount of money to keep Nazaryan in Iran. According to the government, there are currently discussions on establishing joint ventures or branches of Iranian companies, as well as facilitating the certification process for exports from Armenia to Iran; therefore, it is necessary to have a commercial attaché in Iran to address these issues. This information has been reported by the newspaper 'Zhoghovurd'.

The government anticipates that the establishment of the attaché position will have a positive impact on the Armenian economy, and Iranian investors will show interest in the 'Meghri' free economic zone and the engineering city under construction. The arrangements reflect the sad and corruption-laden history of the failed ANIF fund.

To cover the expenses of the person facilitating all this, Haik Nazaryan, the government is allocating 28 million 903 thousand drams, nearly 76 thousand USD. Interestingly, Nazaryan is set to officially start working on April 1, as per the decision, but the state budget has allocated funds for the commercial attaché's maintenance starting from March 1 to December 31, 2025.

His salary amounts to 12 million 754 thousand drams, while 4 million 808 thousand drams have been allocated for renting a residence, and maintenance costs total 11 million 340 thousand drams. This includes the purchase of property and equipment, utility expenses, postal expenses, communication costs, subscription to newspapers, secondary education for three individuals (presumably his children), business trip expenses, and various other expenses.

Interestingly, we haven't seen anything practically regarding the development of Armenia-Iran relations, apart from the Armenian government trying to convince Iran that 'Trump's path' is the only way to the world,” the newspaper writes.