“The security of the region must be ensured through interaction and cooperation among the regional countries, and Tehran is sensitive to the interference of extra-regional countries,” Nasirzadeh told Papikian, according to the official IRNA news agency.
“Some interventions are driven by malicious intent and could threaten the region’s stability,” he said in an apparent reference to the United States.
Iranian officials have repeatedly issued such warnings in recent years as Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has sought to reorient Armenia towards the West amid heightened tensions with Russia, its traditional ally. They have expressed serious concern at the Armenian government’s plans to open a U.S.-administered transit corridor for Azerbaijan that would run along the Armenian-Iranian border.
Tehran fears that the so-called Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) could endanger the border and lead to U.S. security presence there. A top aide to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei described it in December as a serious security threat to Iran. Yerevan has clearly failed to dispel the Iranian concerns with its repeated assurances that the TRIPP will not compromise Armenian sovereignty over the area.
“Armenia will never be the source or origin of any threat to its historical neighbor and it believes that Iran’s stability guarantees the stability of the region,” IRNA quoted Papikian as saying during the talks with Nasirzadeh.
The Armenian Defense Ministry gave no details of the talks and Papikian’s separate meeting with the Iranian army chief of staff, Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi. It said only that they discussed Armenian-Iranian military cooperation and “regional and international security.”
Papikian traveled to Tehran as the U.S. continued to deploy military assets to the Middle East in preparation for possible strikes against Iran. Official Yerevan has still not publicly commented on the possibility of U.S. military action. The Iranian news report suggested that the issue was also on the agenda of Papikian’s talks.
“Iran does not seek war, but if war is imposed on the country, it will defend itself with full force and will teach the enemies a lesson they will not forget,” said Nasirzadeh.