The lifting of Western sanctions against Iran anticipated as a result of a landmark framework agreement to restrict Tehran’s nuclear activities would boost Armenian-Iranian commercial ties and regional security, official Yerevan said on Friday.
Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharian reaffirmed the Armenian government’s highly positive reaction to the agreement reached by Iran and world powers in Lausanne on Thursday.
“The sanctions have also inhibited our relations with Iran,” Kocharian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am). “So the reaching of the agreement on the [Iranian] nuclear program by the interested parties is very important.”
“It will not only help to expand Iranian-Armenian trade but will also play an important role in boosting stability in the region,” he said.
According to Armenian government data, the volume of that trade stood at $291 million last year, accounting for just under 5 percent of Armenia’s overall foreign trade. Economists and entrepreneurs see a potential for much more commercial exchange between the two neighboring states.
The long-running sanctions have also hampered the implementation of Armenian-Iranian energy projects such as the $350 million construction of a big hydroelectric plant on the Arax river separating the two countries.Yerevan and Tehran also plan to build a new high-voltage transmission line that will enable Armenia to export much more electricity to the Islamic Republic and import larger volumes of Iranian natural gas.
Close relations with Iran have long been a matter of national consensus in landlocked Armenia. Hence, equally positive reactions to the Lausanne deal from leading Armenian opposition parties.
The Zharangutyun (Heritage) party of Raffi Hovannisian issued a special statement on the occasion, saying that the deal paves the way for “numerous projects geared towards lasting peace and stability in the region.”
“If Iran’s relations with the West improve that will also allow for a deepening of Iran-Armenia relations,” said Giro Manoyan, a senior member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, another major opposition party.
Vladimir Karapetian, the foreign policy spokesman for the opposition Armenian National Congress, agreed. “I think that even in the past we could have developed our cooperation with Iran more effectively despite the sanctions,” he said. “It looks like we are now on a path to the elimination of those hurdles.”