My direct Iranian colleagues and I, as well as Iran’s leadership—the president, the speaker of the parliament—and those with whom we managed to communicate, we have discussed the entire agenda of our bilateral relations, and it is a very rich agenda, starting from the political dialogue between Armenia and Iran, starting from the strategic nature of relations, ending with economic issues, infrastructure.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Ararat Mirzoyan stated this during Wednesday’s question-and-answer session with the government in the National Assembly of Armenia, regarding his recent visit to Iran.

“We also discussed, of course, the international situation in the South Caucasus, around Iran. As for [the] TRIPP [project], I want to use this opportunity again and assure Armenia’s public, Armenia’s parliament that in Iran, at least from my impression and from what I have heard, I conclude that the hype around TRIPP, which is sometimes deliberately presented by some media resources, some opposition circles [in Armenia], does not correspond to reality at all,” Mirzoyan added.

“In Iran, based on my impression and what I have heard, I say that they are satisfied with the entire process around TRIPP, with the complete transparency we are showing, with the willingness to discuss all issues, as well as with the economic opportunities that the unblocking and relaunching of those same infrastructures will provide to Iran itself and to Iranian businessmen, to Iran’s economy,” he said.

The Armenian foreign minister added that they had a very good discussion with their Iranian counterparts about TRIPP. “Questions were raised, answers were given. Our work on this with Iran is ongoing, and I can truly say this with a sense of satisfaction for both sides. The rest, as they say, is hype that is being blown away. (...),” Mirzoyan said, in particular.

As for Armenia’s air transportation with Iran, the Armenian foreign minister said: "We are telling our international partners very transparently and publicly that we highly value and attach importance to our relations with Iran, and we will not put them at risk, and we will deepen our relations with Iran as much as international, including existing sanctions allow, we will deepen those relations, including through air transport, as long as we do not find ourselves on the edge, the border line beyond which Armenia itself will find itself the target of sanctions and our economy may collapse.”

“Yes, there are those air transports, I myself have traveled to Iran and returned on one of those airlines. As for cargo transportation, there are traffic jams and accumulations at the customs on the Iranian side. We are discussing the issue very intensively, there are technical solutions, the implementation of which I hope we will see in the coming days," the Armenian FM added.