At present, the international community‟s preoccupation with Middle East Unrest overshadows a new trend in Iranian Armenian political relations affecting the South Caucasus. The officials and former civil servants of Iran have frequently made statements in support of IranianArmenian diplomacy. In these statements they express anxiety, about the armament of the region in particular and that Azerbaijan-Armenian conflict will result in a new war. In statements made by third parties, there are accusations that Azerbaijan is developing its military industry. At that stage, the efforts of the Iranian officials to demonstrate political support to Yerevan with their statements and speeches with uncertain political motives, geopolitical benefit perspective, are seen in the foreground. Iranian-Armenian relations reveal that Yerevan has a specific status in its foreign policy concept and regional policy pursued by Tehran after the Islamic revolution of 1979. This distinct status is not about historical foundations and rationality of relations between two states; on the contrary, it is about shaping and development of relations contradicting both Iran‟s foreign policy concept and its national interests. In particular, the two states‟ relations went upscale after 2008 August Russia-Georgia war, which resulted in recognition of the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia by Russia. Russia changed the vector of its military power, as the result the relations between official Tbilisi and Moscow were complicated. This development resulted in the closure of the Georgian “door,” which is the only one way out for Armenia. Namely, the start of the Turkish-Armenian normalization process was directly connected with the plan of the official Yerevan to free itself from the position of “geopolitical pincers” and to prevent the impact of global economic crises to the country through foreign investments. According to Armenian sources, the Yerevan spends significant amount of efforts in developing its relations with Iran and this is the one of the main strategic aim of Armenian foreign policy.
Published in Political Reflection Magazine Vol. 2 No. 2
