YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani reaffirmed his country’s readiness to supply more natural gas to neighboring Armenia and deepen broader Armenian-Iranian relations when he visited Yerevan on Tuesday, October 1.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan reassured him that Armenia remains committed to closer ties with Iran despite U.S. sanctions against Tehran.
“Our position is that our relations with Iran must be beyond geopolitical influences as much as possible because we are neighbors and have many common interests and we need to cooperate for many more centuries and millennia,” Pashinyan said during his talks with Rouhani.
Rouhani arrived in the Armenian capital the previous night to attend a summit of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), a Russian-led trade bloc comprising five ex-Soviet republics. He met with Pashinyan just hours before the start of the summit attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“We attach great importance to developing and expanding relations with our friend and neighbor Armenia in all areas,” Rouhani said in his opening remarks at the meeting with Pashinyan cited by the latter’s press office.
“We are ready to continue working with your government to devise and implement new projects and expand the volume of the gas-for-electricity program,” he added.
