- Robert Zargarian
Armenia is addressing Iran’s concerns over its plans to open a U.S.-run transit corridor along the Armenian-Iranian border, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in Yerevan on Friday.
“We don’t have any concerns. We trust our Armenian brothers,” Araghchi told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service during the COP17 Biodiversity Conference.
He did not comment further on the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) that would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave as well as Turkey via Armenia’s Syunik province. Iranian officials have repeatedly said that that the transit arrangement must not put Armenian control of the border at risk or lead to U.S. security presence at Iran’s doorstep.
“We have concerns regarding any U.S. presence in the region and in our immediate vicinity,” Araghchi told other Armenian reporters. “However, we are in direct contact with our Armenian friends regarding this matter. We trust them. We know that they are doing nothing that would compromise Iran’s security.”
The issue was high on the agenda of Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan’s October 5 visit to Tehran during which he met with Araghchi as well as Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian and parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. Mirzoyan said afterwards that Tehran is “satisfied” with Yerevan’s assurances on the TRIPP.
“The Iranian side certainly has questions,” he said on Friday. “Answers to these questions have been provided, and my impression is that the Iranian side is satisfied with how things are proceeding.”
“For example, the Iranian side asks: ‘Will there be an American military presence along the TRIPP?’ … And we reply: ‘There won’t be,’” added Mirzoyan.
The Iranian ambassador to Armenia, Khalil Shirgholami, earlier called for the creation of a “mechanism” to manage “potential risks of U.S. presence and threats to Iran” emanating from the TRIPP. Shirgholami said the U.S. and Israeli military campaign against the Islamic Republic underlined the perceived risks.
Pezeshkian also arrived in Yerevan to attend COP17. He met with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on the sidelines of the United Nations forum. It was their third face-to-face meeting in less than a month.
Tehran’s official readout of their latest talks did not mention the TRIPP project. It cited Pezeshkian as saying that the two neighboring states should work out a “comprehensive framework for long-term cooperation” and “translate existing agreements and initiatives into practical results.”
“The Iranian president said closer relations between Tehran and Yerevan would help strengthen stability and security across the region,” added the statement.
Pashinian’s press office reported, for its part, that the two leaders discussed ways of “advancing joint programs.” It did not elaborate on those programs.
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