At least Armenia’s relations with its neighbors haven’t been affected after the war in Nagorno-Karabakh was unleashed on September 27. This is what Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Shavarsh Kocharyan said during today’s discussion on the draft of the 2021 State Budget held as part of the joint session of the Standing Committees on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs and Regional and Eurasian Integration of the National Assembly of Armenia. At the same time, he said Armenia understands that martial law leads to escalation of issues with neighboring countries.

“This also concerns Iran. Tehran can solve its domestic issues in such a way that it can eventually have an impact on the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Kocharyan stressed and recalled the red line that Iran has drawn, adding that this poses a threat to the common border with Armenia and that Iran will be ready to take action in case of a threat and change of geopolitical classification of forces in the region.

Kocharyan also stressed that Armenia’s neighboring countries are definitely concerned about the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and that Iran is definitely concerned about the appearance of terrorists not far from its borders. “Iran talks about this and is making some preparations. They [the Iranians-ed.] have been at war with these terrorists in the Middle East, and now those terrorists are near Iran. Russia also feels the danger,” the deputy minister clarified.