Iran and the US are key partners for Armenia. Armenia treats the relations with these two countries extremely delicately. This is what Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Shavarsh Kocharyan declared during a session entitled “Situation concerning the Islamic Republic of Iran and the recent events in the region” and held by the Standing Committee on Regional and Eurasian Integration of the National Assembly of Armenia today. According to him, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia was working round-the-clock when the tension sparked on January 3.

“Our concerns are understandable since any turbulence can lead to serious consequences for Armenia. All us Armenians know what Iran means to Armenia as a neighboring country. From this perspective, Armenia is always attentive towards the events that take place in Iran. It is not by chance that Armenia was very interested in the signing of the nuclear deal, and we were the first to welcome the nuclear deal. However, unfortunately, the recent events jeopardized all this. The United States is a very serious partner for Armenia and is one of the three co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, and it plays a major role in supporting stability,” Kocharyan declared.

Kocharyan also said Iran and the US played a major role in the fight against terrorism in the Middle East and stated that US President Donald Trump even hinted Iran’s contribution to the fight against the “Islamic State” in his speech following the recent events. “I must say that Iran appreciates Armenia’s approach. We are often told that Iran has 14 neighboring countries of which all are Muslim, except for Armenia, but Iran has the fewest problems with Armenia out of all those countries,” Kocharyan emphasized.