March: 27, 2026
While the US-Israeli war against Iran continues, US President Donald Trump, speaking about the so-called negotiations with Iran, made a number of harsh statements regarding Iran, negotiations and allies during the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers.
He continued to insist that Washington is “conducting very meaningful negotiations with the right people in Tehran” and stressed that the conflict “will end soon”. According to him, Iran is trying to make a deal because “Iran has been destroyed”. According to Trump, the US has destroyed 90% of Iran’s capabilities, and Iran, according to him, is “begging for a deal.”
At the same time, he pointed out the high level of Iranian negotiators, noting that they are “very smart”. Speaking about military aid, the US president allowed the possibility of resource redistribution. Ammunition intended for Ukraine can be directed in other directions. Trump noted that the US is not dependent on the Strait of Hormuz, and emphasized that its opening would be possible in case of a “right deal” with Iran.
On the Truth Social page, Trump wrote that he is postponing the strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure for another 10 days. “At the request of the Iranian government, I am postponing the phase of destruction of power plants by 10 days, until April 6, 2026,” the US president wrote.
The talks, according to Trump, are ongoing, and despite statements to the contrary, “they are going very well.”
Despite this, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has called on the entire civilian population of the region to stay away from areas adjacent to the locations of US forces. “The cowardly American-Zionist forces are trying to use civilian places and innocent people as human shields. We advise you to immediately leave the places where the American forces are stationed so that no harm is caused to you,” said the statement, which was published on the Sepah News website.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has announced that strikes against Iran will be intensified and expanded in response to Iran’s missile attacks on civilians.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I warned the Iranian terrorist regime to stop the rocket attacks on the civilian population of Israel. Despite the warnings, the shelling continues, and therefore ISIL strikes against Iran will intensify and expand to include additional targets and areas that help the regime produce and use weapons against Israeli citizens. They will pay a heavy price for this war crime,” stated Israel Katz.
The war continues, although talks about negotiations do not stop, as well as complaints that the war is too costly for the United States.
The Wall Street Journal writes that the US armed forces suffered a total of 2.9 billion dollars in losses during the first three weeks of the armed conflict with Iran. According to the periodicals, the amount of damage done to American military equipment and replacement of damaged equipment is estimated from 1.4 to 2.9 billion dollars. The WSJ notes that most of the damage was done by Iranian missiles and drones. Despite all this, according to the American mass media, the Pentagon is also considering a ground operation, for which higher costs are required.
Russian analyst Vladimir Yevseyev in a conversation with 168.am said that the situation goes beyond the logic of a quick war and enters the phase of prolonged, exhausting confrontation. According to his assessment, the initial calculations in Washington and Tel Aviv were based on breaking Iran’s military and nuclear potential through short-term and high-tech pressure, but this scenario did not materialize, Iran not only retained the ability to strike back, but also showed that it is ready to confront, using its main advantages – geopolitical position and energy leverage.
“And against this background, the tension around the Strait of Hormuz became a key factor in the war, because it is here that a significant part of the global oil supply is concentrated. Iran has shown that it can influence not only military, but also global economic processes, increasing its value at any negotiating table. This is the reason why, in the conditions of military pressure, Tehran is not in a hurry to make concessions. And the active talks about the negotiations, which are circulating especially from the American side, reflect political and informational tactics rather than real diplomatic progress. Iran continues to deny the fact of direct negotiations, accepting only mediated communication. This is important, which shows that the parties have not yet reached the level where a real compromise is possible. Their demands remain fundamentally incompatible.” said the analyst. He believes that a rather interesting balance of power is formed against this background.
According to the analyst, although the US continues to maintain its role, its political position has become more complicated: the war is complicated, expensive, long-term, problematic in terms of internal politics, and uncertain and unclear in terms of goals.
“Israel continues to maintain the most rigid line and is interested in the extension, because it understands that it is not possible to quickly achieve the set goals. And Iran, contrary to many predictions, managed to organize the resistance well, strengthening its positions. All this shows that it is too early to talk about the end of the war. It would be appropriate to say that the conflict is changing its form. We notice that the intensity of open military clashes is changing, but the tension remains. In the future, we may witness similar trends. The most realistic scenario is the scenario of de-escalation without a final agreement, that is, the parties will try to reduce the intensity of military strikes, but will not abandon their positions. At the current stage, the side that is able to impose its agenda on the political and economic levels, rather than winning on the military field, is in the most advantageous position. And with this logic, Iran has currently managed to disappoint many and resist, becoming the dictator of conditions. However, this is not the final result, the war continues, negotiations continue between many different players. Let’s not forget that there is talk of a ground operation, it can also be unpredictable, although many people think that the USA has no chance in this matter. predicted the analyst.
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Ancient alphabets, new insights: Researchers uncover hidden links among the le
SDSU researchers used AI to compare writing systems across distant regions.
Peer-Reviewed Publication
image:
From left, characters in the Ethiopic (portions only), Armenian, Georgian and Caucasian Albanian alphabets.
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Credit: Daniel Zemene, Esatu Zemene, Atharv Sankpal, Eskinder Sahle, Vyshak Athreya Bellur Keshavamurthy, Samuel Kinde Kassegne, Machine learning techniques for exploring influence, commonalities, and shared origin of scripts: cases of Ethiopic, Armenian, Georgian, and Caucasian Albanian scripts, Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, 2026;, fqag029, st1yle=”box-sizing:border-box;margin:5px 0px 15px”>With artificial intelligence (AI) as an essential tool, San Diego State University researchers have discovered surprising similarities among ancient writing systems from Africa and the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Their study suggests the Armenian alphabet may be more closely related in structure to the ancient Ethiopic writing system than linguists and historians previously thought.
For many years, historians noticed some Armenian, Georgian and Caucasian Albanian letters look similar to letters from Ethiopic, also known as Ge’ez, a writing system developed in the Horn of Africa more than 1,600 years ago.
Most of these early studies, however, relied on scholars’ own visual inspection of the letters to determine whether they appeared alike.
Researchers from the Department of Mechanical Engineering in the College of Engineering tested this idea using AI instead of human judgment. They trained a computer program to study more than 28,000 images of Ethiopic characters so it could learn the basic shapes and patterns in the writing system. The program learned to recognize curves, straight lines, angles and the overall structure of each letter.
Importantly, the computer had no data on history, religion, geography or culture. It only looked at shapes. After learning the Ethiopic characters, the program compared them to letters from the Armenian, Georgian and Caucasian Albanian alphabets. It then calculated how similar the shapes were.
The results, published March 25 in Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, were striking.
Among the three alphabets tested, Armenian letters showed the strongest similarity to Ethiopic letters. Caucasian Albanian letters showed a moderate level of similarity, while Georgian letters showed some similarities but were less consistent. As a comparison, the researchers also tested the Latin alphabet — the one used in English — and found it showed much lower similarity.
“Our aim was to move beyond visual impressions that are difficult to test or replicate,” said Sam Kassegne, a professor of mechanical engineering and lead investigator. “By making our criteria explicit and mathematical, we introduced an objective computational approach that is easily reproducible. We believe that this reproducibility is the key contribution of our method.”
New findings
One of the most surprising findings was that the Armenian alphabet appeared almost as similar to Ethiopic as Ethiopic is to its own earlier version. That suggests the resemblance may not be accidental.
The Armenian alphabet was created around 405 CE. Around that same time, the Ethiopic writing system was expanding and becoming more widely used. Historical records show people from Ethiopia traveled to such places as Jerusalem, Egypt and Syria during this period. The creator of the Armenian alphabet, Mesrop Mashtots, also traveled through parts of the Middle East. While the study does not prove one writing system copied the other, it suggests cultural contact and influence between these regions may have been possible.
The study also shows how modern technology can help answer ancient questions.
We are already familiar with AI being used for self-driving cars and medical imaging. In this case, it was used to study the shapes of letters from ages ago revealing some level of historical cultural interactions. By teaching a computer to carefully measure similarities, researchers were able to move beyond the limitations of visual impressions and provide numerical evidence.
Daniel Zemene, an SDSU graduate student and AI and machine learning researcher at SDSU’s NanoFAB Lab, emphasized the broader implications of the findings.
“What makes the research significant is that computational geometry and historical scholarship converge on the same scripts and time period,” said Zemene, the study’s first author.
“The model had no access to historical records, yet it learned purely from visual and structural data and identified Armenian as the closest structural match to Ethiopic within the very timeframe historians have long debated. That convergence between computation and history is powerful.”
The researchers emphasize similarity does not automatically mean direct borrowing. However, the findings make it more reasonable to consider that these cultures may have influenced one another. Throughout history, societies have shared ideas, including systems of writing. Greek, Roman, Persian and Arabic civilizations all influenced one another in different ways.
This new research suggests Ethiopia’s ancient writing culture may also have played a meaningful role in the exchange of ideas across regions. It also shows AI is not just about modern technology, but a tool that can help us understand literary heritage with a new level of precision.
Journal
Digital Scholarship in the Humanities
DOI
10.1093/llc/fqag029
Method of Research
Computational simulation/modeling
Subject of Research
Not applicable
Article Title
Machine learning techniques for exploring influence, commonalities, and shared origin of scripts: cases of Ethiopic, Armenian, Georgian, and Caucasian Albanian scripts
Article Publication Date
25-Mar-2026
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Simonyan considers opposition parties “war parties”
The Chairman of the National Assembly of Armenia, Alen Simonyan, announced that in the parliamentary elections to be held in June 2026, the citizens will, in fact, make a choice between peace and a possible war.
In a conversation with journalists, he emphasized that, in his opinion, the war theme has become a political tool for some political forces.
“I understand that the forces that are in the hall now, the forces that want to enter the parliament, need a war, they need a conversation about the war, so that they can build something political on it. But now there is no war, there is peace,” said Simonyan.
He also noted that there have been no casualties from the enemy’s shooting at the borders for two years. “Is it war or peace now? Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Armenia and Azerbaijan have not traded, and the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia have not spoken about peace on both sides,” said the Speaker of the National Assembly.
According to Simonyan, it is necessary to evaluate and not lose sight of the current situation. “We should be afraid of losing that peace,” he emphasized. According to the NA Speaker, there is a clear division in the political field.
“The current government of the Republic of Armenia, the “Civil Agreement”, is a party of peace, the rest, the main opposition actors, are parties of war. That’s the reality. If people say that they should present a demand, it is called war,” said Simonyan.
He also referred to the Soviet legacy, noting that after the collapse of the USSR, unresolved border issues remained in a number of regions. “We were also told that you, who live in Armenia, always dream that your home is not only here, but also there, and we will make it your property. The goal is that we always depend on them,” he said.
Summing up, Simonyan again emphasized his assessment of the political field, noting that the elections will be a choice between maintaining peace and a possible return to war.
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Foreign Minister sheds light on recent closed meeting with Azerbaijan
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan has disclosed details from a recent closed meeting between Armenian and Azerbaijani officials.
Notably, he said that Azerbaijan has not put forth any preconditions regarding constitutional changes in Armenia, but has notified that it will not finalize the initialed peace deal as long as the current wording about Nagorno-Karabakh remains in the Constitution.
Mirzoyan emphasized that Armenia has reiterated to Azerbaijan that finalizing the initialed peace deal is the best way to put an end to all misinterpretations.
According to Mirzoyan, at the most recent closed meeting with the Azerbaijani side, Baku did not demand any changes to the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia.
“When we say that we cannot discuss our Constitution with you because it is Armenia’s internal affair and not a subject for negotiations, they respond: ‘Very well, it is your internal matter, we will not negotiate it; we are simply informing you that as long as your Constitution contains these provisions, we are not prepared to finally sign the peace agreement.’ We take note of this and respond that it is regrettable, because we could also see many other issues, and the best solution would be the signing and ratification of the peace agreement, which would put an end to all misinterpretations,” the Foreign Minister explained in response to a question by opposition Armenia bloc MP Kristine Vardanyan at a parliamentary committee hearing.
Mirzoyan said this is the issue on which the two sides have diverging stances.
Azerbaijan has repeatedly accused Armenia of having what it describes as territorial claims in its Constitution through its preamble reference to the 1990 Declaration of Independence, which in turn mentions Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia has denied that this reference constitutes territorial claims, and the country’s Constitutional Court has ruled that the mention in no way amounts to such claims. Armenian officials have stated that signing the initialed peace deal with Azerbaijan would resolve all of Azerbaijan’s concerns.
Meanwhile, the Pashinyan administration has initiated constitutional amendments, with work ongoing to develop the draft, but officials have emphasized that this is an unrelated internal matter that has been in the plans for many years.
Published by Armenpress, original at
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Armenia to establish unified center for foreign economic activity
Authorities plan to establish a unified center for foreign economic activity which will consolidate all services related to import and export in a single location, State Revenue Committee Chairman Eduard Hakobyan said on Monday in parliament.
Presenting the loan agreement between Armenia and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for the “Yerevan Customs and Logistics Center,” Hakobyan noted that the project aims to improve the efficiency and speed of customs procedures.
He explained that currently, customs functions are carried out in a fragmented manner, with certain processes — such as inspections — taking place at separate terminals, often without the necessary laboratory infrastructure.
“The purpose of the foreign economic activity center is to ensure that all functions — not only customs, but also the operations of other agencies related to import and export — are carried out within a single integrated system,” Hakobyan said.
The center will be located in Proshyan village, near the North-South road, on the outskirts of Yerevan, enabling it to serve the main flows of freight transport along that route.
Hakobyan added that the project will be financed through a €30 million EBRD loan and a €6 million grant, with co-financing from the state budget.
The project will include the construction of the Foreign Economic Activity Center as well as a new administrative building for the State Revenue Committee, which will not be funded by the loan.
“The center will be a unified complex, where all phases of import and export processes will be centralized. It is planned to have approximately 9,000 sq. m. of storage and inspection space, 2,100 sq. m. of service and administrative areas, a three-story laboratory covering about 700 sq. m., as well as a parking area for up to 408 trucks and an X-ray inspection platform,” he concluded.
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The modified version of the RA Constitution has appeared in the hands of the media
The amended version of the RA Constitution has appeared in the hands of “Ishkhanutyun” news agency. In the text, the lines in red are the ones that were added, and the deleted lines are the lines that were removed from the Constitution.
The site writes: “The changes made in the RA Constitution put the fundamental values of the people under attack: history, the institution of the family, the connection with the diaspora and the priority of being Armenian in Armenia. But the funniest thing is that the amended Constitution, undermining the state’s value system, is presented with a beautiful packaging of “European values”.
Thus, “historical memory is erased” in the preamble of the Constitution. There is no mention of the Declaration of Independence, while the existing Constitution is based on the Declaration of Independence. The declaration read: “The Armenian people, taking as a basis the fundamental principles of Armenian statehood and national goals established in the Declaration of Independence of Armenia, the sacred message of their freedom-loving ancestors who implemented the restoration of a sovereign state… accept the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia.”
This reference was removed from the text of the new Constitution and replaced by the following lines: “The people of the Republic of Armenia, guided by the goals of preserving the independence, sovereignty and continuity of the Republic of Armenia, protecting human rights and freedoms, strengthening the democratic and legal state, ensuring the safety of the people and promoting the general well-being, as well as the commitment to inherit a peaceful, safe and prosperous homeland for future generations, adopt the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia.”
It was Aliyev’s demand to tear the Declaration of Independence from the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, because it mentioned Artsakh and talked about the restoration of the historical homeland and lands.
Clause 2 of Article 35 has been deleted in the new Constitution, where it was stated that a woman and a man have equal rights when getting married, during marriage, and when divorcing. The amendment of this article implies that the model of the traditional Armenian family is changing, and that the same-sex union can also be considered a family.
Article 36, which defines the rights and responsibilities of parents, has been changed so that children no longer have an obligation to care for their elderly parents. Clause 3 of this article defined: “Adult working persons are obliged to take care of their disabled and needy parents. The details are defined by law.” This has been completely removed.
According to the new Constitution, a person of Armenian nationality can no longer become a citizen of the Republic of Armenia in a simplified manner. Clauses 2, 3 and 4 of Article 47 defining the right to citizenship of the Republic of Armenia have been completely deleted. This means that our Diaspora Armenians can no longer become RA citizens in a simplified manner.
Article 113 was completely deleted from the Constitution, which gave the members of the National Assembly the right to address the members of the Government, including the Prime Minister, with written questions, in other words, to demand transparency and accountability. With the new Constitution, parliamentary control is weakened, and the political system seems to be becoming a monarchy. The goal is simple: so that the opposition cannot influence the government and the prime minister has complete freedom.
One of the most important articles of the RA Constitution, Article 205, has been changed in such a way that the Armenian people will no longer be able to control the fate of their country. The Constitution written by the CP government allows the government and the National Assembly to decide the country’s membership in international organizations without a referendum.
The transitional provision of the new Constitution allows that if Armenia joined any international organization before 2015, the issue of suspending or canceling the membership of that organization can be resolved only through the National Assembly, without a referendum.
This circumstance creates a particularly serious problem in the case of EAEU membership, as Armenia had already joined that organization in 2015, according to the previous Constitution.
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Armenia’s Anti-Corruption Committee to Review Hetq’s Corruption Findings
Armen Ghazaryan
Tirayr Muradyan
Hetq, in December 2025 article, wrote that National Assembly Civil Contract head MP Hayk Konjoryan had purchased a private home at a price below market value, and in March 2026 we published how Arinj community lands were sold to the owner of the company that sold Konjoryan the house many times cheaper than market value.
Hetq revealed that part of the Abovyan city park was also privatized and sold to the same developer. The park was sold to members of the family of Abovyan Mayor Eduard Babayan (2012–2016), then transferred to a businessman associated with Hayk Konjaryan.
Armenia’s Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) has reviewed Hetq’s report about Hayk Konjoryan, Deputy Governor Hayk Mkrtchyan, and Abovyan Mayor Eduard Babayan.
Following the review, Hetq’s findings were referred to the Anti-Corruption Committee for possible criminal proceedings, according to the PGO.
Previously, a separate report concerning Konjoryan’s house purchase was also sent to the committee for investigation.
On March 5, 2026, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that the government has a working group investigating media reports of alleged corruption among officials. He declared that all claims of illegal actions by officials are referred to law enforcement for investigation.
Hetq tried to ascertain, via a written request, whether the working group and Pashinyan have familiarized themselves with Hetq’s findings and, if they have, what action has been taken.
In response to our request, Armen Khachatryan, Head of the Information and Public Relations Department of the Prime Minister’s Office, stated that Hetq can contact the PGO to obtain such information.
Khachatryan stated that a working group is currently investigating all reported instances of alleged violations involving officials. When questioned about whether Pashinyan is aware of the publication concerning Konjoryan, Khachatryan declined to comment.
Photo (from left): Prosecutor General Anna Vardapetyan, MP Hayk Konjoryan, Abovyan Mayor Eduard Babayan, Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Committee Artur Nahapetyan
Armenia turns healthcare into industry with strategic investments, says Pashin
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Thursday that his administration is transforming healthcare in Armenia into an industry.
“We are turning healthcare in our country into an industry. As we predicted, there are significant investments being made today. Medical robots are already being imported into Armenia because the [healthcare] community sees that the Government is making major investments. Moreover, these investments are not one-time; they are systematic and strategic. I am now pleased to note that, for example, in terms of health insurance, we have a certain level of confidence that we will not return to the old systems, because even during regional visits, we see that the system has begun to take root,” Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting.
The landmark universal health insurance system in Armenia took effect January 1, 2026.
Published by Armenpress, original at
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It’s funny that those funded by the US or the EU criticize Samvel Karap
The funny thing is that people who obviously receive funding from the government funds of the United States or the European Union, individual EU countries, present the fact that Samvel Karapetyan has a business in Russia as a threat to “sovereignty”.
This is also one of those categories where it could be a joke, but it is actually sad because it is consumed in certain public circles.
In this matter too, there is a lot of work to be done in order to increase the resilience of our society. Great and fundamental work. This is what will give Armenia the greatest capacity for sovereignty.
Analyst Hakob Badalyan
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Over 54,500 homes destroyed in Iran amid U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign, Red Cr
The Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) reported that more than 54,500 housing units have been either completely or partially destroyed in the Islamic Republic since the start of the U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign.
The IRCS said the destruction of homes occurred across the country in various areas.
Published by Armenpress, original at
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