“Nowadays, things are becoming possible that even the most serious experts previously spoke about with great skepticism. I will not take responsibility for assessing how likely a confrontation between Azerbaijan and Iran is,” Armenia’s Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said during a parliamentary briefing, addressing the regional situation.
“What I can say as Armenia’s foreign minister is this: Armenia, we, I, are interested in fully preserving peace around Armenia. In the case of our brotherly people of Iran, we regret the deaths, the strikes on civilian infrastructure, and the suffering of neighboring Arab peoples and states, who are also our friends. In other words, we want-and support-the swift establishment of peace there. We are tenfold and more interested in maintaining peace around us,” he said.
When asked whether the TRIPP process had stalled-given Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s remark that TRIPP is not currently a priority for the United States, and whether continued U.S.-Iran tensions could hinder its implementation-Mirzoyan responded that negotiations are proceeding normally:
“I assure you that Armenia-United States negotiations on TRIPP have not slowed down and are ongoing in a normal course.
As I mentioned earlier, the first step was announced on August 8; the second step was negotiations, and on January 14, we agreed on a comprehensive document and published the implementation framework. The next step should be the signing of an intergovernmental agreement, where the legal mechanisms will be defined.
Therefore, work on TRIPP at this moment is focused on the document, and it is ongoing. When possible, we will move on to implementation on the ground,” he said.
