Armenia Eager to Broaden Ties with Iran in Energy Sector

In a meeting with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, held on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Russia on Thursday, Pashinyan described Iran as an important neighbor and close friend of Armenia.

“Armenia will continue to expand its good relations with Iran under any circumstances”, the prime minister said, adding that his country’s top regional policy priority is to develop interactions with Iran. 

Yerevan is also interested in developing bilateral and regional economic and trade relations with Iran and other countries in the region in different fields including energy, he noted.

For his part, Pezeshkian hailed Armenia as the friend and good neighbor of Iran, saying Tehran is focusing on expansion of ties with neighboring nations, and supports any idea aimed at strengthening regional alliances.

Pezeshkian referred to BRICS, saying that the bloc aims to counter totalitarianism and unilateralism by the US and other Western states that threaten and sanction other countries without any logic and only based on bullying and excessive demands.

The Iranian president also lashed out at the United States and some other Western states for what he described as the justifiable support of the Zionist regime’s genocide in Gaza and attacks against the Lebanese people.

“By supporting the Zionist regime’s barbaric acts to attack hospitals and schools as well as defenseless and innocent women and children, the US and Western states have caused the continuation of these crimes”, Pezeshkian said, according to his official website.

“The blind support by the US and European countries for the Zionist regime’s aggression will ignite the region”, he warned.

Pezeshkian noted that Iran delayed its response to the Israeli regime’s assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July, who was an official guest of the Islamic Republic, in order to help establish a ceasefire in Gaza.

But, the president added, the regime intensified its aggression. This regime and its supporters showed that they do not adhere to any humanitarian and lawful principles, Pezeshkian said.