By Robert Zargarian
YEREVAN (Azatutyun) — Armenia is addressing Iran’s concerns over its plans to open a US-run transit corridor along the Armenian-Iranian border, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in Yerevan on Friday, October 16.
“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 the transit arrangement must not put Armenian control of the border at risk or lead to US security presence at Iran’s doorstep.
“We have concerns regarding any US 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.
