YEREVAN. – Hraparak daily of the Republic of Armenia (RA) writes: Along with maintaining diplomatic neutrality, we [Armenia] offered condolences over the death of one of the neighboring, friendly country's [Iran] leading military figures, [General Qassem] Soleimani, only when the Iranian Foreign Minister telephoned the RA Foreign Minister.

"If it weren't for the call, wouldn't you have condoled?" We asked MFA spokesperson Anna Naghdalyan. "This is your conclusion, which we don't have to share at all. In diplomacy, they do not comment on ‘if’ theories; moreover, no assessments are given on issues that start with ‘if.’

"Then why didn't you extend condolences from the very beginning?" (...). “We extended our condolences when there was an occasion to express our condolences; the convenient occasion was the phone call.”