Iran Sees No Restriction on Expansion of Ties with Armenia: VP

Speaking at a meeting between high-ranking Iranian and Armenian delegations in Tehran on Monday, Jahangiri praised Tehran-Yerevan ties as “age-old” and said the relationship between the people of the two countries is based on numerous commonalities shared by them.

He further emphasized that fortunately, there are good bilateral relations at the level of ministries of the two countries and expressed the hope that the trip made by Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan to Iran would be a milestone in the history of bilateral relations.

Jahangiri also said various fields of gas, electricity, agriculture, converting industries, technical and engineering services, as well as transportation, can be among the areas of cooperation between the two countries.

The Armenian premier, for his part, pointed to some joint projects between the two countries and stressed the need to eliminate problems hampering the implementation of the projects.

Karapetyan also emphasized that his country is prepared to boost the volume of bilateral trade with Iran remarkably.

In December, in a high-profile meeting in Yerevan attended by the presidents of the two countries, ranking officials from Iran and Armenia signed five documents, including an agreement on using a joint border crossing linking Iran’s Norduz to Armenia’s Meghri.

The agreements came against the backdrop of a new wave of interest in ties with Iran after Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France, and Germany) on July 14, 2015 reached a conclusion over the text of a comprehensive 159-page deal on Tehran's nuclear program and started implementing it on January 16, 2016.

The comprehensive nuclear deal, known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), terminated all nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran.