Author: Emil Lazarian

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS

Armenia vote showed firm commitment to peace and closer ties with Europe, says

June 16, 2026June 16, 2026 Emil Lazarian

Politics16:23, 15 June 2026

Read the article in: ArabicՀայերենРусскийTurkçe

The June 7 parliamentary elections showed Armenia’s firm commitment to democracy, peace, and closer ties with Europe, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy / Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas has said.

Kallas said on Instagram that during the Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Luxembourg, EU ministers congratulated Armenia on exercising their sovereign democratic right to vote in parliamentary elections. “The vote showed Armenia’s firm commitment to democracy, peace and enhanced cooperation in the region as well as closer ties with Europe,” she added.

Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan participated in an EU Foreign Affairs Council-format meeting at the invitation of EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas.

Kallas, speaking ahead of the Foreign Affairs Council meeting, told reporters: “We have the Foreign Minister of Armenia joining us. They just had elections, and we have seen really increased pressure by Russia to actually change their path. That is why we have to support them to be resilient. That is why we are also discussing with the Minister what more can we do to help them on their path.”

Read the article in: ArabicՀայերենРусскийTurkçe

Published by Armenpress, original at
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Asbarez: Central Election Commission Upholds Election Results; Prosperous Arme

June 16, 2026June 16, 2026 Emil Lazarian

by Asbarez Staff

June 15, 2026

in Armenia, Featured Main, Latest, News, Top Stories

The Central Election Commission meets in Yerevan on Jun. 14

Armenia’s Central Election Committee on Sunday published the final results of the June 7 Parliamentary Elections, sparking renewed accusations from opposition forces, and Armenia’s election watchdogs, of vote rigging to favor Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his Civil Contract Party.

The CEC declared Civil Contract the winner of the elections, with two opposition alliances, businessman Samvel Karapetyan’s Strong Armenia and former president Robert Kocharian’s Armenia blocs, also entering the new parliament.

Businessman Gagik Tsarukyan’s Prosperous Armenia Party did not pass the four-percent threshold because the CEC invalidated entire results from three precincts last week, prompting the party’s leaders to cry foul.

The final vote results announced on Sunday were virtually identical with the CEC’s preliminary tally released following the vote count on June 8.

According to the results, Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party won almost 49.8 percent of the votes and won 61 seats in the 105-member National Assembly. The Strong Armenia bloc came in second with nearly 23.3 percent, followed by the Armenia alliance, which received 9.9 percent of the votes. The CEC claimed that Prosperous Armenia Party only got 3.99 percent of the votes, thus not qualifying it to enter the parliament.

The Strong Armenia alliance will have 29 seats, with the Armenia bloc receiving 12 seats.

The CEC also allocated three seats to the Civil Contract Party, raising its presence to 64 seats, thus allotting the prime minister’s party a three-fifths majority. The three added votes comprise the representation of national minorities. Strong Armenia also gained one seat from the national minorities allocation.

Immediately after the announcement of the results, seven opposition forces issued a joint statement challenging the results of the elections. The signatories included the three top opposition vote getters, as well as Edmon Marukyan’s Bright Armenia party; the Armenian National Congress, headed by former president Levon Ter-Petrossian; and the Armenian People’s Group.

“Nikol Pashinyan and his regime would bear full responsibility for any further escalation of the situation in the country,” the joint statement warned.

As a result of a recounts and verification in some precincts last week, the Prosperous Armenia Party recovered 147 votes However, the CEC’s decision on Thursday to cancel vote results in the three polling stations, which gave 222 votes to the Prosperous Armenia Party, ensured that the opposition would not have more seats in parliament.

Opposition forces condemned the decision, saying that the Armenian authorities are illegally trying to give Civil Contract a more comfortable majority in the new parliament. They said the CEC should now at least rerun the elections in those rural precincts.

The commission headed by a longtime Pashinyan collaborator, Vahakn Hovakimyan, refused to do that, saying that the more than 3,000 voters living there cannot influence the overall election outcome. The opposition countered that they can give the Prosperous Armenia Party the missing votes that would translate into five parliament seats.

Hundreds of opposition members and supporters rallied outside the CEC building before its announcement.

“It’s clear that CEC is directed by one person and that person is Nikol Pashiniyan,” Propserous Armenia Party spokeswoman Iveta Tonoyan told reporters. “This is the most disgraceful election I’ve seen during my 20-year political activities.”

“Our people won’t allow government to be formed with stolen votes,” declared the Armenia Alliance’s Gegham Manukyan.

Meanwhile, independent vote-monitoring groups on Monday joined the Armenian opposition in challenging the official election results.

The Independent Observer, coalition of three watchdog groups, accused the CEC of illegally giving Civil Contract several more seats in Armenia’s new parliament.

“We didn’t expect the CEC to break the law to such an extent,” said the Independent Observer coordinator, Daniel Ioannisyan.

Hovakimyan, the CEC president, did not deny opposition claims that it deliberately left out the Prosperous Armenian Party in favor of Pashinyan’s Civil Contract.

In a statement issued on Monday, Hovakimyan said that a repeat election in the three precincts would have led to “tactical voting,” presumably by supporters of other opposition forces keen to help the BHK enter the parliament.

He claimed that this would have given then an unfair advantage over other voters who did not know on June 7 “what impact their vote would have on the final outcome.”
Ioannisyan brushed aside the explanation, arguing that the Prosperous Armenia Party already won on June 7 enough votes in the three polling stations to clear the four percent threshold. He insisted that the CEC decision runs counter to the Armenian Electoral Code. The new parliament will lack legitimacy unless the Constitutional Court will overturns the decision, added Ioannisyan.

A representative of another vote-monitoring group, Akanates (Eyewitness), also criticized the CEC for not re-running the elections in the three rural precincts.

“I find that decision very controversial first and foremost in terms of public trust in the electoral process and in terms of the legitimacy of the elections,” Meri Minasian told Azatutyun.am.

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CC: What Pashinyan can and cannot do without a supermajority

June 16, 2026June 16, 2026 Emil Lazarian

· JUNE 15, 2026

By Siranush Adamyan

Civilnet

Civil Contract’s preliminary victory in Sunday’s parliamentary election leaves Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan able to govern alone, but whether his party clears the three-fifths majority mark in the new parliament hinges on the fate of a single rival party still contesting the results.

Preliminary figures show Civil Contract taking 49.8% of the vote, Strong Armenia 23.28%, and the Armenia alliance 9.93%. Prosperous Armenia, led by Gagik Tsarukyan, fell just short of the 4% threshold required for parliamentary entry, receiving 58,368 votes, roughly 50 votes fewer than needed. The party has requested a recount from the Central Election Commission.

If Prosperous Armenia is excluded, its votes will be redistributed among the parties that did clear the threshold, potentially shifting about five seats. Lawyer Arpine Hovhannisyan, applying Electoral Code formulas that account for minority mandates and vote dispersal, calculates the resulting distribution as: Civil Contract 64 seats (up from 61), Strong Armenia 29 (up from 28), and the Armenia alliance 12 (up from 11).

The seat count matters because 63–64 seats would give Civil Contract the three-fifths majority of all parliamentary deputies required under the constitution to pass constitutional laws, including the Electoral Code, the Judicial Code, laws on the Constitutional Court, referendums, political parties, and the Human Rights Defender. Without three-fifths, the ruling party cannot elect or dismiss judges of the Constitutional Court and Court of Cassation, members of the Supreme Judicial Council, the Prosecutor General, the Human Rights Defender, or members of the Central Election Commission, the broadcast regulator, the Audit Chamber, or the Central Bank governor.

Even with three-fifths secured, however, Pashinyan’s party would still fall well short of the two-thirds majority needed to initiate constitutional amendments or put fundamental articles of the constitution to a referendum. Amending the constitution’s preamble, which references the Declaration of Independence and has been a stated priority of the ruling party, would require that higher bar. Removing that reference is a precondition set by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to sign the agreed-upon peace treaty with Armenia.

The final composition of parliament will not be determined until the deadline for recount requests passes and any appeals are resolved.

https://www.thecaliforniacourier.com/what-pashinyan-can-and-cannot-do-without-a-supermajority/?fbclid=IwY2xjawSdz4RleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeMXrO5QoQV0f4NPxdPjlRSAf6vVIYh6OCLs8v0YBAKM-jmHUhc41AVcge0io_aem_BKJkI8hDyRvjhY5vcL6l9g

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Armenian priest from Lebanon bears witness to living under bombardment for Wau

June 16, 2026June 16, 2026 Emil Lazarian

· JUNE 15, 2026

Father Daron Stepanian, pastor of St. Paul Armenian Apostolic Church, listens to discussions with parishoners regarding the ground realities in Lebanon. (Gregory Harutunian/ for the Lake County News-Sun)

By Gregory Harutunian

Chicago Tribune

Members of Waukegan’s St. Paul Armenian Apostolic Church were introduced to the Very Rev. Bayrour Shernezian over Easter weekend last April. He was invited by the church’s board and its pastor, Father Daron Stepanian, to help conduct the Holy Friday Candlelight Service.

A native of Beirut, he attended the Armenian Theological Seminary in Antelias, Lebanon, for eight years. A 2020 appointment led to becoming the seminary’s dean and also running an orphanage with 40 children of mixed backgrounds.

The Very Rev. Bayrour Shernezian addresses the congregation at St. Paul Armenian Apostolic Church in Waukegan last April. He has remained in contact with the church, providing updates about Lebanon. (Gregory Harutunian/ for the Lake County News-Sun)Now past 100 days, the combined American-Israeli forces continue military operations against Iran, albeit with a fragile ceasefire in place, according to news reports and Shernezian. However, Israel’s military is also waging a parallel campaign against Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, while targeting the infrastructure sites in Beirut.

With damaging air strikes in south Lebanon residential areas last week, Israeli leadership has maintained its position of seeking out militants. Rev. Shernezian has remained in contact with the congregation and the seminary to report on the ground realities of impacted civilian populations.

As always is, it is a battlefield, unfortunately between powers against a small country, a very beautiful country, where there are different religious denominations living together,” Rev. Shernezian said. “There are Christians, Orthodox, Protestant, Evangelical, also Muslim denominations, Shiite, Sunni, Alawi, Druze…so, there is a religious diversity.

“We are also neighbors. Not everybody knows this picture of Lebanon. We never look at each other as strangers, just citizens of Lebanon.”

The bombardments have largely occurred in south Lebanon, near the border with Israel, and around Beirut, near the airport. More than one million people have migrated to the northern and eastern areas of the country in an effort to escape the shelling.

“They are on the streets; they live in their cars because they don’t have any place,” Shernezian said. “The government provided some schools, soccer fields, so they can put up tents, but we don’t know what their future is. Many people, because of the economic crisis, they lost everything, everything they had in banks, lost.

“What does it mean to live and work all your life, now comes time to enjoy your life, and suddenly, you have nothing in your bank, all is gone,” he said. “They can give it back to you, but at a very low rate…that means nothing to you.”

Stepanian said, “Families are being displaced because their homes were destroyed on the basis of militants hiding in the buildings. To do these things to innocent people is something that makes no sense.”

Shernezian said, “Many times, when they do bombardments, the Israelis leave messages to evacuate the area before the attack…but we never know when,” Shernezian said. “More than a million Lebanese from the south are emigrating to safe areas, and sometimes Israel bombs these places, saying a terrorist escaped there.

“People are afraid to welcome refugees, scared that someone is a target,” he said. “The most traumatizing thing is to always hear the bombardments. Our seminary…we hear it. It is not a big country. You can hear it, anywhere.”

He also points to the discouraging atmosphere for young people and their own dreams of a better life. “Even if war ends, they have no assurance…they appreciate life, and yet, people have hope. They want to start again, but this situation is not helping us. We always find Lebanon as a battlefield for different groups, as political authority.”

St. Paul board member, Arda Haroian Bowles, noted, “We need this kind of direct communication. It’s also a way of regeneration, appealing to young people with the truth and their own worth as human beings.”

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Noubar Afeyan Ranks 32nd on Forbes’ List of America’s 250 Greatest Innovators

June 16, 2026June 16, 2026 Emil Lazarian

· JUNE 15, 2026

Zartonk Media

Armenian-American entrepreneur Noubar Afeyan, the scientist and investor who helped bring the world one of its first mRNA vaccines, has been ranked 32nd on Forbes‘ list of America’s 250 Greatest Innovators, a list released to mark the United States’ 250th anniversary. He stands among names that define modern American industry, with Elon Musk topping the ranking, followed by Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Nike’s Phil Knight, NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang and filmmakers George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, reports Zartonk Media.

Forbes compiled the list through an unusual process, scoring nearly a thousand nominees on creativity, disruption, and commercial impact through a panel of judges, then asking artificial intelligence tools to rank them before editors set the final order. For Afeyan, the placement marks formal recognition of a career that turned a refugee child’s improbable arrival in North America into one of the most consequential records in American science.

Through Flagship Pioneering, the firm he founded in 2000, Afeyan has helped create more than one hundred science companies, each beginning from a single question, “What if?” The most consequential answer came in 2010, when he co-founded Moderna, at a time when using messenger RNA as medicine was almost unheard of. A decade later that idea became a vaccine deployed to billions of people across more than seventy countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Afeyan serves as Moderna’s board chairman, and for his body of work he received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the highest honor the United States grants for technological achievement.

Afeyan’s roots trace to Beirut, where he was born in 1962 to Armenian parents, his grandfather a survivor of the Genocide. His family fled the Lebanese Civil War for Montreal in 1975, and he went on to study at McGill University before completing a doctorate in biochemical engineering at MIT in 1987, entering biotechnology at the very moment it was becoming an industry. He speaks Western Armenian, and he has long pointed to his immigrant background as the engine behind his scientific, business, and philanthropic work, the kind of formation that shapes a person before they go on to build careers of their own.

In 2015, alongside the late Vartan Gregorian and Ruben Vardanyan, the Armenian philanthropist now held hostage in an Azerbaijani prison after the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, Afeyan co-founded the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative and its Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity, an award that honors those who risk themselves to save others, rooted explicitly in the memory of the Armenian Genocide and the survivors who were once saved by strangers. He is a founding backer of the Foundation for Armenian Science and Technology, a board member of the UWC Dilijan International School, a co-founder of the Future Armenian initiative, and an early architect of efforts to chart the country’s long-term development. Most recently he has turned toward Armenia’s technological future, serving as a founding partner and strategic advisor to Firebird, the company building a roughly half-billion-dollar AI data center in the country together with NVIDIA and the Armenian government, with his Afeyan Foundation for Armenia among its founding investors.

There is something fitting in seeing an Armenian name on a list defining American ingenuity at the nation’s 250th year. The American story has always been, in large part, the story of who arrives and what they go on to build. Afeyan arrived as a boy with a displaced family and a foreign name, and he became one of the people that name is now used to celebrate. For the Armenian nation, scattered across the world and accustomed to building its institutions on borrowed ground, his place on that list is a milestone worth marking.

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A rigged election cannot and will not become a source of legitimate power. RPA:

June 16, 2026June 16, 2026 Emil Lazarian

June: 15, 2026

The statement of the RPA executive body regarding the June 7, 2026 parliamentary elections and the political situation in the country

No elections were held in Armenia on June 7. election fraud took place, a pre-planned, centralized leadership and criminal action crowned by the direct intervention of the head of the administration aimed at usurping the will of the people.

Our party has consistently and principledly stated that these elections were being prepared under such conditions that deprived the electoral process of its free, fair and competitive nature from the beginning. Also, based on this deep conviction, the Republican Party made a decision with its participation not to give a veil of legitimacy to a process whose course and outcome were predetermined not by the will of the people, but by the pressure of the administrative machine. Nikol Pashinyan’s regime will not tolerate free and fair elections under any circumstances, because free elections are a defeat for him.

The day of the elections and the entire period before it completely confirmed the validity of our warnings.

We share the assessments of the June 14 joint statement of the opposition political forces that participated in the elections. Widespread use of administrative resources, intimidation of state and community officials, political prosecutions and arrests of opposition figures and activists, deliberate paralyzing of opposition headquarters, turning state and pro-government media into a discrediting tool, direct falsification of votes and distortion of polling station results are the links of a criminal program directed from one common center. This is not a series of individual violations, but a systemic election robbery carried out by the power of the state machine.

This criminal plan was completed by the Central Electoral Commission, which on June 14, by its decision, carried out an open usurpation of the 3/5 majority of the National Assembly in favor of the “Civil Agreement”, illegally refusing to organize a re-voting in three polling stations and thus depriving the “Prosperous Armenia” party of the opportunity to overcome the transient threshold. The official image that emerged is not the result of an election, but an open usurpation of power by the Communist Party.

All state bodies, including the law enforcement system, the Central Electoral Commission and the so-called independent bodies, have illegally served and continue to serve exclusively the interests of Nikol Pashinyan’s reproduction, deliberately not providing the legal conditions for holding truly democratic elections.

Based on the aforementioned, the Republican Party announces:

The official results of the so-called elections of June 7 are false, meaningless and do not reflect the will of the Armenian people.
The National Assembly formed on the basis of those results is not a representative body of the people, but a collection of usurped mandates, devoid of any democratic legitimacy. The Republican Party does not recognize the National Assembly formed in this way and the government created by it as a legitimate expression of the will of the Armenian people.

Nikol Pashinyan personally bears the political and legal responsibility for plunging the country into a deep internal political crisis and all its possible consequences.
The Republican Party calls on all political forces with national-state responsibility and every citizen to overcome differences and unite around one goal: to restore the usurped choice of the people and protect the statehood of Armenia.

We will fight consistently and uncompromisingly, solely with the power of the Constitution, the law and democratic principles, in defense of citizens’ electoral rights, the interests of the Republic of Armenia and the fundamental values of democracy.

A rigged election cannot and will not become a source of legitimate power.
The republic was and remains our highest value.

Executive body of the Republican Party of Armenia
June 15, 2026, Yerevan

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You all knew there was going to be a disaster… find batteries, generators, etc.

June 16, 2026June 16, 2026 Emil Lazarian

June: 15, 2026

Artur Danielyan writes on his Facebook page. “I say again: all of you knew that the catastrophe was going to happen, but, deceiving yourselves, you hoped that we would pass. Now, self-deception doesn’t work either. For those who would like to avoid burying their heads in the sand, I will present a few arguments.

A few days ago, the government called a meeting. Representatives of almost all companies working in the field of renewable energy of the republic were present. The main topic was: What are we going to do when the gas goes out? It is natural that no joint solution was reached. The reason, as it is in all spheres, is the recklessness of government members. Those people are used to answering very complex problems with very simple “solutions”, doing everything twice and putting the blame on others.

And the problem is really very complicated. The graph below is the daily electricity demand graph. As you can see the consumption drops to almost zero at night, increases to a peak in the morning, then decreases in the afternoon and increases again in the evening when people get home (and this is not even considering seasonality). The difficulty is that solar energy production peaks at the exact moment when demand is falling. In other words, the sun provides electricity that people do not consume, which greatly burdens the grid, causing fluctuations, shutdowns and accidents.

For example, the productivity of a hydropower plant can theoretically be controlled. You increase the flow of water during peak hours and decrease it during the day and night. THEORETICALLY, it is possible to control the productivity of the thermal power plant and even the nuclear power plant, but it is not possible for the solar power plant. In the case of fuel, including gas, the problem is easily solved. If you need to heat, you turn on the gas, if you don’t, you turn it off. This cannot be done with solar unless there are storage plants, which are horribly expensive and still inefficient technology.

Since the country is ruled by a man with the curse of khaki-Midas, one can be sure that this problem will suffer the fate of all other problems: the khaki will be pushed to the bus. If the Greek King Midas turned to gold what he touched, what does this turn to gold: security, diplomacy, education, healthcare, finance, democracy…everything!

During the aforementioned government meeting, it was said that the Europeans would help financially to solve the issue. Meanwhile, for example, according to the 2026 budget, as of June 30, it was planned to attract a loan of about 1 billion dollars, but in fact -150 million (yes, with a minus) was attracted. In other words, no new money has arrived, but we have to repay the old loans.

This has forced our beloved bureaucrats to reduce their expenses by 15%, starting with stationery, ending with gasoline and foreign travel.

And the Europeans are not in a hurry to solve the problem, among other reasons, because there is no longer a legitimate government in RA. No one wants to spend billions in a place where the government that rigged the elections could collapse overnight.

Since the non-existent state will not solve this issue, I say to you again what I said a year ago: find batteries, generators. Solve your family problems. Do not eat milk, do not wait for manna. Don’t listen to the propagandists of the regime, the fakers and the dalbayobs from America who urge us to war against Russia and “peace” with Azerbaijan, they all have one thing in mind: their green card. They will not worry about the heating of your house, nor about the bread of your children.

And remember that energy is just one of the sectors on the verge of collapse and not the biggest one…”

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RFE/RL – Kocharian Banned From Leaving Armenia

June 16, 2026June 16, 2026 Emil Lazarian

June 15, 2026

Armenia – Former President Robert Kocharian speaks during a campaign rally in Yerevan, June 5, 2026.

Former President Robert Kocharian was banned from leaving Armenia on Sunday as Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian reaffirmed his pledges to imprison him and the leaders of other major opposition groups accusing him of rigging the June 7 parliamentary elections.

Kocharian’s office announced earlier in the day that he is leaving for Russia on a three-day private visit which it said had been planned beforehand. It said late in the evening that the leader of the opposition Hayastan alliance was “illegally and without any explanation” not allowed to board a flight to Moscow at Yerevan’s Zvartnots airport.

A news website controlled by Pashinian’s Civil Contract party was the first to report the travel ban. Pashinian claimed shortly afterwards that Kocharian and two other top opposition leaders will not be allowed to flee the country because he won a popular mandate to “bring to their knees” and “destroy” them.

“If it even occurs to any shoe licker of [Azerbaijani President Ilham] Aliyev that President Kocharian might flee the country, he is sorely mistaken,” shot back Bagrat Mikoyan, the ex-president’s spokesman. “One person will flee Armenia, and that one person is Aliyev’s poodle.”

Kocharian’s Hayastan, billionaire Samvel Karapetian’s Strong Armenia alliance and the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) led by another wealthy businessman, Gagik Tsarukian, were the ruling Civil Contract party’s main election challengers. They refuse to recognize Civil Contract’s victory in the polls, rejecting the official vote results as fraudulent. Several other opposition groups have also accused Pashinian of rigging the elections.

Pashinian has repeatedly vowed to jail Kocharian, Karapetian and Tsarukian in recent weeks. Law-enforcement authorities charged Tsarukian with tax evasion and banned him from leaving the country on June 9.

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Yerevan Signals No Foreign Policy Change Despite Russian Pressure

June 16, 2026June 16, 2026 Emil Lazarian

June 15, 2026

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan talk at the start of a meeting in Luxembourg, June 15, 2026.

Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan met with his European Union counterparts on Monday, indicating the Armenian government’s intention to continue moving closer to the European Union despite economic sanctions threatened or already imposed by Russia.

The foreign ministers of EU member states and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas had what her office described as an “informal exchange over breakfast” with Mirzoyan just before their regular meeting held in Luxembourg.

According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, Mirzoyan told them that most Armenians voiced support for their government’s “aspirations towards Europe” in the June 7 parliamentary elections the official results of which gave victory to the ruling Civil Contract party. He emphasized the fact that his first post-election visit abroad is “taking place in this format aimed at further deepening the Armenia-EU partnership.”

Russia has questioned the vote results, rejected by the Armenian opposition as fraudulent, and continued demand that Yerevan swiftly choose between seeking to join the EU or remaining part of a Russian-led economic bloc. In the run-up to the elections, it imposed de facto bans on the vast majority of Armenian-made products exported to Russia, the South Caucasus nation’s main trading partner.

The EU condemned the Russian embargo and promised to give Yerevan 50 million euros ($58 million) in urgent economic assistance and open the EU market to some Armenian goods. Armenian exports to Russia reached almost $3 billion last year, compared with $667 million worth of goods exported to EU member states.

Mirzoyan was reported to discuss with the top European diplomats ways of boosting Armenia’s trade with the EU. They agreed to “continue working in this direction,” the Armenian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Speaking before the meeting, Kallas again criticized the Russian pressure on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s administration.

“That is why we have to support them to be resilient,” she told reporters. “That is why we are also discussing with the minister [Mirzoyan] what more can we do to help them on their path.”

Meanwhile, Moscow continued to warn Yerevan against carrying on with its pro-Western foreign policy that has also been criticized by Pashinian’s main election challengers.

“If the Armenian leadership relies solely on Western aid and support, it will certainly make a mistake and the situation in the country will worsen,” Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, was quoted by the official TASS agency as saying. “Of course, additional barriers and difficulties will arise in the country’s economic development. But I still hope that the Armenian leadership will act wisely.”

Russia is in a position to inflict even greater economic pain on Armenia by ending a significant discount on the price of Russian natural gas imported by the country. Russian Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev warned of such a measure in a letter sent to Yerevan late last month.

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Iran-Armenia Strategic Relations: Interview with H.E. Khalil Shirgholami

June 16, 2026June 16, 2026 Emil Lazarian

Iran-Armenia Strategic Relations: Interview with H.E. Khalil Shirgholami

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Introduction

SpecialEurasia’s recent official mission to Yerevan for the Yerevan Dialogue 2026 offered a unique opportunity to engage directly with regional stakeholders at a moment of profound geopolitical transformation.

During this visit, the team met with H.E. Khalil Shirgholami the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Republic of Armenia, whose perspective is essential for understanding the evolving dynamics of the South Caucasus.

In this exclusive interview, the Ambassador reflects on the civilizational depth of Iranian‑Armenian relations, the strategic ambitions behind the forthcoming Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement, and the shared commitment to safeguarding regional stability amid shifting global pressures. He also addresses the challenges posed by external actors, the realities behind international perceptions of Iran, and the economic corridors that could redefine connectivity from the Persian Gulf to the Black Sea.

What emerges is a vision of bilateral cooperation rooted not merely in diplomacy, but in a millennia‑old cultural bond that continues to shape political choices, economic strategies, and regional security frameworks. This conversation provides valuable insight into how Tehran and Yerevan imagine their future partnership—one built on strategic clarity, mutual respect, and a shared determination to ensure peace and prosperity for their peoples.

Your Excellency, diplomacy is often viewed through the technical lens of treaties and borders, but at its heart, the relationship between Iran and Armenia is a bridge between two millennial cultures that have coexisted and enriched one another for centuries. In an era of rapid global change and external pressures, how can you leverage this profound historical and cultural depth to ensure that your bilateral ties remain not just a political necessity, but a living example of civilizational solidarity for the entire region?

“As you mentioned, relations between countries can have different reasons or logics; they can have an agreement-based and conventional logic, or they can have a civilizational and cultural logic. The relations between Iran and Armenia, as you correctly pointed out, are based on the civilizational and cultural connection and bond between the two nations, which dates back a very long time.

This civilizational connection or bond elevates the relations beyond a mere state of fleeting or short-term interests and creates ties or reasons that add depth to the relationship. This means the relations flow within the context of a historical and civilizational bond, which can serve as a model for Iran’s relations with other countries in the region, including in the South Caucasus.

Furthermore, it helps this historical and civilizational solidarity translate into a capacity for greater integration and cooperation, ensuring that the mutual interests of both sides—the two nations and the nations that are supposed to work together—are pursued more deeply within this context, ultimately yielding long-term benefits for them.”

Your Excellency, Iran and Armenia share a border that hasn’t just existed for centuries but has thrived as a portal of stability amidst regional turbulence. As both nations look toward signing a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement in 2026, how do you envision this document growing your relationship from one of ‘neighbourly support’ to a truly integrated strategic alliance for the next 50 years?

“Look, the relations between Iran and Armenia are special and distinguished; they possess various dimensions and flow through different channels. At the same time, we have reached a stage of maturity in our relationship where we require a document to provide a long-term and strategic definition of these relations and, in fact, to institutionalise them.

The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Document is being drafted with this objective in mind: to serve as the roadmap for relations in the coming decades. It aims to define the various dimensions of the relationship through a long-term and strategic lens, so that the politicians and statesmen of both countries know what the roadmap, the guiding path, and the lofty goals are as we continue the path ahead in Iran-Armenia relations. Therefore, moving beyond a mere neighbourly connection, the relations can enter a structure based on strategic thinking and establish long-term definitions for all areas of the relationship.”

Iran has been very clear about its ‘red lines’ regarding geopolitical changes and the sovereignty of borders in the South Caucasus. In the context of the ‘Crossroads of Peace’ initiative, how can Armenia and Iran ensure that new transit routes remain tools for regional prosperity rather than becoming venues for the influence of external powers that may not share the interests of your immediate region?

“Yes, Iran has previously and clearly declared its red line regarding any geopolitical and border changes in the South Caucasus region. Any initiative intended to be implemented in the region must acknowledge the important reality that geopolitical and border changes are unacceptable.

The presence of non-regional and external actors in the region, along with the objectives and interests they pursue, does not necessarily lead to peace, prosperity, and development. It can turn the area into a battlefield for destructive, negative competitions and can cause deep rifts among regional actors and countries.

Therefore, within the framework of any initiative concerning transit and corridors in the region, realities must be recognised, the interests of intra-regional actors must be considered, and the cooperation of intra-regional actors for development programs— including in the fields of transit and connectivity—must be clearly defined.

Moreover, the possibility of extra-regional actors exploiting the newly created capacities for security purposes must be prevented. This is Iran’s red line.

At the same time, while Iran believes that greater openness and connectivity can contribute to the development of the South Caucasus region, it firmly maintains that these important considerations must absolutely be taken into account.”

Iran is often portrayed through a very specific lens in Western media, yet its diplomatic footprint in Yerevan suggests a policy of pragmatism and regional integration. As a career diplomat, how do you navigate the gap between these international perceptions and the ‘on-the-ground’ reality of Iranian-Armenian friendly cooperation?

“The reality is that misinformation, misperceptions and disinformation campaigns regarding Iran have long been underway and continue to persist. The realities of Iran and the realities of its policies have been overlooked. In the context of our country’s relations with Armenia, which you noted are characterised by pragmatism and a commitment to regional integration, the reality is that Tehran adopts the same approach toward all of its neighbours.

The neighbourhood policy constitutes the central pillar of Iran’s foreign policy. The misperceptions of others, or their illegitimate interests in creating regional divides and sowing discord among regional actors, are unfortunately an inauspicious and negative phenomenon that has exacerbated rifts and created issues and challenges among countries.

Iran-Armenia relations are formed on a foundation of reality, historical and civilizational bonds, the supreme interests and benefits of the two nations, and geopolitical territorial geography. Regardless of what others may perceive in this regard, this narrative is continuing to develop, and we have significant plans to deepen it in the future.”

H.E. Khalil Shirgholami, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Republic of Armenia

With the global economy facing high volatility due to recent conflicts, the North-South Transport Corridor and the gas-for-electricity swaps have become vital lifelines. Last year, the Yerevan Dialogue 2025 also highlighted the proposal for a transit corridor linking Iran to the Black Sea via Armenia. Beyond these existing projects, what ‘new frontiers’ of economic cooperation do you believe could make the Armenian-Iranian partnership more resilient against external economic pressures?

“Yes, there are significant capacities between Iran and Armenia that have not yet been activated and could be placed on the agenda. One of the most important of these capacities, within the framework of unblocking routes in both the East-West and North-South directions, is the possibility of a railway connection from Iran via the Jolfa route through Nakhchivan to Yerevan in Armenia, and its continuation to Georgia and the Black Sea ports. This can create a massive capacity as one of the branches of the North-South Corridor, enabling the connection of the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman to the Black Sea.

India has signed a free trade agreement with the European Union encompassing a population of two billion, and the transit capacity of Iran, Armenia, and Georgia can cover a substantial portion of this trade. Therefore, if we can activate this transit capacity between Iran, Armenia, and Georgia, it will yield tremendous benefits for all three countries.

Some of the economic pressures or illegitimate economic sanctions against Iran have existed and persisted for decades regardless; however, at the same time, the countries of the region have reached a new awakening and awareness that they must pursue the interests of their own nations independent of the pressures of this or that party, and seek to realise the maximum benefits for their own countries.”

Given the trauma of recent wars in this region, what is your message to the Armenian and Iranian people who are looking for a definitive end to the cycle of conflict? How does Iran’s vision for a ‘Regional 3+3’ format provide a better path to peace?

“Iran’s effort and vital priority have been to ensure that the aggressive war waged against our country does not have a negative impact on the region of our northern borders and the South Caucasus region. Given the importance we attach to the interests and well-being of our neighbours, all of Iran’s effort was focused on ensuring that this war had the absolute minimum negative impact on the South Caucasus region.

We communicated this to our Armenian friends as well and made great efforts to ensure that the interactions between the two countries, border connectivity, and mutual travel maintained their normal conditions as much as possible. Tehran has never sought war and conflict, nor does it now. Iran was subjected to aggression and defended itself.

Tehran has always been ready to pursue the logic of diplomacy within an equitable framework. This policy still stands, and if it were not for the excessive demands of the United States, the capacity to establish peace naturally exists. However, regardless of whether a sustainable peace is achieved or not, the security of the South Caucasus region and the security of Armenia remain an important and indispensable priority for us.”

Written by

Silvia Boltuc

SpecialEurasia Co-Founder & Managing Director. She is an International affairs specialist, business consultant and political analyst who has supported private and public institutions in decision-making by providing reports, risk assessments, and consultancy. Due to her work and reporting activities, she has travelled in Europe, the Middle East, South-East Asia and the post-Soviet space assessing the domestic dynamic and situations and creating a network of local contacts. She is also the Director of the Energy & Engineering Department of CeSEM – Centro Studi Eurasia Mediterraneo and the Project Manager of Persian Files. Previously, she worked as an Associate Director at ASRIE Analytica. She speaks Italian, English, German, Russian and Arabic. She co-authored the book Conflitto in Ucraina: rischio geopolitico, propaganda jihadista e minaccia per l’Europa (Enigma Edizioni 2022).

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