Monday, June 6 2022 14:51

ArmInfo.Tehran, is, no doubt, interested in a security platform with the participation of Armenia and Russia, Vardan Voskanyan, Head of the Chair of Iranian Studies,  Yerevan State University, said in an interview with ArmInfo. 

"It is not known if any specific steps are being made toward  establishing such trilateral cooperation. In any case, nothing like  that is on the open agenda. Interested in the South Caucasus, Tehran  is closely following all the regional processes for the primary  reason that they - and the Caucasus-related geopolitics - directly  concern Iran," the scholar said.  

Iran is the only state considering Armenia's territorial integrity to  be a redline for itself. And Tehran showed that not only by means of  political rhetoric, but also by specific steps, particular the recent  military exercise along the Iranian-Azerbaijani border. Iran will  never allow Turkish-Azerbaijani encroachments on the Armenian border. 

Mr Voskanyan does not rule out Armenian-Iranian consultations on the  "geopolitical impulses" in the region, particularly on the  Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. He notes that such consultations are  belated, and the Yerevan-Tehran cooperation needs higher efficiency. 

"One more all-important issue on the Armenian-Iranian agenda is the  North-South highway construction.  Many people view the project only  in its economic aspect, whereas the North-South is a most important  component of the entire region's security, to say nothing of its  geopolitical significance. Tehran is perfectly aware of that.  Evidence thereof is also Iran's statements that the  Goradiz-Meghri-Julfa-Ordubad-Yeraskh railway can by no means be  considered the trunk line between Armenia and Iran. Rather, it is the  North- South highway," Mr Voskanyan said. -t--