Iran will not permit any foreign influence to undermine its strategic partnership with Armenia, a senior Iranian security official stated on May 18 during high-level meetings with visiting Armenian officials in Tehran.
Ali Akbar Ahmadian, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, made the remarks during talks with Armen Grigoryan, Secretary of Armenia’s Security Council, who was in the Iranian capital to participate in the Tehran Dialogue Forum.
“Tehran will not allow its enemies to cause harm to these relations,” Ahmadian said, referring to external powers that “do not want lasting peace in the region.” While he did not explicitly name any country, his comments come amid growing Armenian engagement with Western nations, including the United States and European Union, which some in Tehran view with suspicion. He emphasized that Iran will not permit adversaries to undermine ties between the two neighbors. He also called for enhanced cooperation and reiterated that Armenian-Iranian relations are “strategic” and essential for regional peace and stability, according to Iranian state media.
Grigoryan echoed Ahmadian’s sentiments, stressing the importance of expanding bilateral cooperation. “The development of our relations is not dependent on the will of others,” he asserted, as quoted by Iran’s Mehr News Agency. He further emphasized the value of increasing economic and trade exchanges and expressed appreciation for Iran’s continued support. “Armenia has benefited from the technical and engineering expertise of Iranians,” Grigoryan noted, highlighting the role of Iranian private firms in development projects in Armenia.
During his visit, Grigoryan held separate meetings with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who reaffirmed Tehran’s firm opposition to the so-called “Zangezur corridor”—a proposed route aggressively pushed by Azerbaijan and Turkey through Armenia’s sovereign Syunik province.
Araghchi underscored this position during a March visit to Yerevan, warning Baku and Ankara against any attempt to alter regional borders, which would sever Iran’s land connection with Armenia. In response to renewed threats by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to forcibly impose the corridor, Armenia and Iran conducted their first-ever joint military drills along the Syunik border last month, demonstrating deepening defense cooperation.
Speaking at the Tehran Dialogue Forum, Grigoryan made Armenia’s position crystal clear: “Frankly speaking, there is absolutely no discussion about any corridor. We don’t even use that term,” he said. He stated that no project called the “Zangezur corridor” exists and that Armenia does not include such terminology in its official discourse, as cited by Factor.am with reference to IRNA.
Coinciding with Grigoryan’s visit to Tehran, Iranian and Azerbaijani forces conducted joint exercises along the southern stretch of their shared border, south of Azerbaijani-occupied Artsakh, a historically Armenian region ethnically cleansed in 2023 following Azerbaijan’s military assault on the indigenous Armenian population.
