Thursday, February 20 2020 13:09

ArmInfo. The actual filling of the Armenian-Iranian relations is hindered by US sanctions against Iran. Such opinion was expressed to ArmInfo  by expert of the  Armenian Institute of International Relations and Security, Iran  specialist Armen Vardanyan.

"It is clear that this problem affects not only relations between  Armenia and Iran. American sanctions have led to a decline in Iran's  trade and economic relations with all partner countries. Many  countries simply avoid or cannot fully develop relations with Iran  due to repeated statements by the Trump administration about the  inadmissibility deepened economic relations with the USA of countries  conducting trade with Iran, "he stressed.

At the same time, according to experts, Yerevan is taking certain  steps to develop the existing agenda with Tehran. In this light, he  noted that the same signing of the Free Trade Agreement between Iran  and the EAEU took place, inter alia thanks to efforts  of the  Government of Armenia.

Moreover, against this background, the Iranian states the absence of  special changes in the volume of trade between Armenia and Iran.  Moreover, the construction of the third Iran-Armenia power line was  significantly delayed, which the project was supposed to be completed  at the end of 2019. And, apparently, the construction is being  delayed precisely because of Iranian partners.

According to expert estimates, Armenia, in this light, is interested  in the INSTEX agreement "Trade Exchanges Supporting Tool", signed  last June by Iran and the European Union. This financial and trading  mechanism allows you to make financial transactions bypassing US  sanctions. Moreover, the EU leadership has already announced that  INSTEX is open for third countries. After that, China, Russia and a  number of other countries expressed a desire to join this mechanism.