Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian is planning to visit Iran soon, a senior Armenian official announced on Thursday.
Armen Grigorian, the secretary of Armenia’s Security Council, said the Iranian ambassador in Yerevan, Seyed Kazem Sajjad, stressed the importance of the “forthcoming” visit at a meeting with him held earlier in the day. He gave no dates for the planned trip.
In a Facebook post, Grigorian cited Sajjad as reaffirming Iran’s readiness to deepen its already “exceptional” relations with Armenia. He said he told the envoy, for his part, that bilateral ties “did not suffer even in difficult times for Armenia or Iran.”
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani telephoned Pashinian on May 14 one week after the latter was elected prime minister. Rouhani reportedly complained about U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from a 2015 international agreement on Iran’s nuclear program and re-impose U.S. economic sanctions on Tehran.
The new Armenian government has made clear that it will press ahead with joint economic projects with the Islamic Republic despite the sanctions. Pashinian called for “new impetus” to Armenian-Iranian ties when he met with Sajjad on June 8.
The two neighboring states are currently constructing a new transmission line that will connect their power grids. The 280-kilometer-long line, slated for completion next year, will allow them to significantly expand a swap arrangement involving supplies of Armenian electricity and Iranian natural gas.
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