Dozens of Iranians living in Armenia have rallied there in recent days to condemn the Iranian authorities’ deadly crackdown on nationwide protests sparked late last month by spiraling inflation and a free fall of the Iranian currency. Some of them have also called for an overthrow of the Iranian regime and restoration of a monarchy in the country.
According to a U.S.-based Iranian rights group, Iranian security forces have killed more than 2,000 protesters in the last two weeks. Tehran has accused the United States and Israel of inciting the protests that have turned violent in some cases.
Iran - Protesters rally in in Tehran’s Poonak district, January 9, 2026.
“Iranian officials are concerned that a group of people are being given the green light to come to the Iranian Embassy and make very disrespectful and offensive statements,” Ambassador Khalil Shirgholami told reporters in Yerevan. “For six days now, between 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m., a group of people have been gathering, making offensive statements, and despite our protests, this process continues.”
“We have stood by the Armenian government in the most difficult moments, there are many examples of that,” he said. “We are in a difficult situation today, and what is happening near the Iranian Embassy in Armenia will remain in the historical memory of the Iranian people.”
“An opinion is forming in Tehran that Armenia is becoming a serious center for the actions of forces hostile to Iran,” Shirgholami added when asked about the development’s impact on Armenian-Iranian relations.
The diplomat’s remarks marked one of the strongest criticisms of Yerevan ever voiced by an Iranian official. The Armenian government dismissed the criticism later in the day. A statement released by the Interior Ministry in Yerevan indicated that the Armenian police will not ban further protests outside the Iranian Embassy while continuing to ensure the mission’s security and “normal activity.”
“As a democratic state, Armenia has an obligation not to impede the exercise of citizens’ right of citizens to freedom of movement and freedom of peaceful assembly within the framework of Armenia’s Constitution, Law on Freedom of Assembly and international commitments,” added the statement.
Iran - Protesters gather as vehicles burn amid evolving anti-government unrest in Tehran, January 9, 2026.
Yerevan has not commented so far on the unrest in Iran which has prompted U.S. threats of military intervention in support of the anti-government protesters.
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on Tuesday. Mirzoyan said afterwards that they did not discuss the situation in Iran.
The Washington talks focused on the Armenian government’s controversial plans to open a U.S.-administered transit corridor for Azerbaijan which would run along Armenia’s strategically important border with Iran. Shirgholami reiterated Tehran’s serious concerns over what will be named the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP).
“We are concerned that the United States may use this [TRIPP] project within the framework of its security policy,” said the Iranian envoy. “We have conveyed this to our Armenian partners. The latter have assured that Armenia will never become a source of threat to Iran … We continue to keep this issue in the spotlight.”
The issue was high on the agenda of Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht Ravanchi’s visit to Yerevan last week. Mirzoyan told him that Armenian-Iranian relations are “of strategic importance” to Armenia.