Araghchi: “Armenia’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Provided Exhaustive Explanations — Iran’s Red Lines Remain Intact”

TEHRAN — In an interview with the IRNA news agency, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi commented on the understandings reached in Washington between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

“Naturally, the full scope of these agreements is not yet entirely clear. But what is visible on the surface, and what the Armenians told us — Prime Minister Pashinyan called our president, their foreign minister called me, and they sent their deputy foreign minister to Tehran — they provided us with exhaustive explanations,” Araghchi stated.

According to him, what happened and what was originally planned — referred to as ‘geopolitical changes in the region’ — are entirely different matters. “I’m not saying what will happen now is free of concerns, because there are issues I will raise,” he noted.

Araghchi explained that when discussions about “Zangezur” first began, the main idea was the occupation of Armenia’s Syunik province and the creation of a territorial link between Nakhichevan and Azerbaijan’s mainland. “The idea was to seize this region. At that time, we expressed our serious concerns. Later, there was talk of creating a 5–10 km wide corridor that would connect these two regions under Azerbaijan’s sovereignty, not Armenia’s. Back then, we had major geopolitical concerns. Our armed forces were stationed near the border, and we established a military presence. However, Azerbaijan assured us such ideas were ruled out. Now all those ideas have been transformed into a road to be built in Armenia by a registered American company, operating under Armenian laws and jurisdiction. This road will be under Armenia’s sovereignty. No American troops will be stationed alongside us, and all of Iran’s red lines remain intact.”

He emphasized that the company involved is merely a private American construction firm — not a security or military entity. “There will be no American forces there, and security will be ensured by Armenia itself. They will not even allow American private security companies to enter the country.”

The joint declaration signed by Armenia and Azerbaijan in the presence of the U.S. president, Araghchi added, states that the borders of the region remain unchanged, and the independence and territorial integrity of all regional countries will be respected. “This is exactly our position. From the outset, our stance was that no matter what steps were taken in the Caucasus, the region’s borders must not be altered. It was important to us that the sovereignty of Armenia or any other country was not compromised,” Araghchi concluded.