“Armenia welcomes the crucial decision between U.S. and Iran to cease all hostilities,” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said in an English-language post on X.
“We also commend the mediation efforts, including those of Pakistan, and firmly believe that diplomacy should prevail to resolve all outstanding issues and preserve peace in the Middle East,” he wrote.
The Armenian government reacted cautiously to the hostilities that broke out on February 28 with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran. It refrained from criticizing the U.S.-Israeli military campaign while delivering a batch of medicines and other humanitarian aid to the Islamic Republic last month. The government did not reveal the volume of the aid, leading its domestic critics to claim that it its afraid of displeasing the U.S.
Pashinian’s administration has been seeking to reorient Armenia towards the West. It agreed last year to open a U.S.-administered transit corridor for Azerbaijan what would run along Armenia’s strategic border with Iran.
In the months leading up to the war, Iranian officials spoke out against the transit arrangement named after U.S. President Donald Trump. They feared that it could undermine Armenian control of the border and lead to U.S. security presence there. Yerevan sought to allay their concerns.
Some observers believe that Tehran will now be even more opposed to the planned Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP). Pashinian suggested on March 12 that the war will delay work on the TRIPP which he said is “not a priority for the U.S. administration today.”