Iran’s former foreign minister and former adviser to the country’s supreme leader on international affairs, Ali Akbar Velayati, has published an article headlined “Openly and sincerely, Mr. Prime Minister” in the Ettelaat newspaper.
Globalinfo.az reports that the article is addressed to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
Velayati said that in more than two thousand years of Iran-Armenia relations no such anomalies had been observed so far:
“During my time as foreign minister I travelled to Armenia and visited Etchmiadzin (now Vagharshapat), regarded as the spiritual center of Armenians, and met with prominent Armenian scholars, bishops and priests.
On my first trip to Isfahan I visited the Julfa district, where Armenians live, and the Vank church built for Armenians by Shah Abbas Safavi.
Iran has never endangered the independence of Armenia and the Armenian people; relations between the two countries have historically been friendly.”
Velayati criticized the policy Armenia has pursued since the 2018 velvet revolution.
He said one of the harmful steps of Pashinyan’s government was the deepening of enmity with Azerbaijan.
According to the former minister, Pashinyan’s latest steps will produce nothing for Armenia but division and problems.
Velayati accused the Armenian government of submitting in particular to the policies of the United States, France and Britain.
The former diplomat cited as one of Pashinyan’s latest steps his acceptance of a proposal to name the route known as the “Zangezur corridor” the “Trump route” or TRIPP.
Velayati said that in separate meetings with Iran’s deputy foreign minister and Armenia’s ambassador in Tehran he had stated his position on the matter openly:
“Armenia may see Russia’s involvement in the war in Ukraine as an opportunity and may think that Moscow is no longer paying as much attention to the security of the South Caucasus as before. But Iran, with Russia or without it, is responsible for safeguarding the region’s security.”
Velayati also recalled the Astana summit held in Tehran in 2021. According to him, Iran’s supreme leader at the time, in a morning meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and an evening meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, openly declared that he opposed the creation of the “Zangezur corridor”.
The former minister stressed that this position of Iran is a “red line” in the country’s strategic decisions.
He added that after those meetings Iran’s Armed Forces held large-scale military exercises and the chief of the General Staff also travelled to the operational zone, demonstrating the country’s strength and resolve.
Velayati, saying he had conveyed his position firmly to Armenia’s ambassador in Tehran, wrote:
“If Trump and his allies want to cross this red line of Iran, we will break their legs.”
At the end of his article Velayati called this step by Pashinyan and his supporters a failed decision and said it would shame Armenians.
Aliyar Khalil
Globalinfo.az
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