TEHRAN- Mehdi Sobhani, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s new extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador to Armenia, has formally begun his mission in the Caucasus nation after presenting his credentials to Armenian President Vahagn Khachatryan.

The president of Armenia congratulated Sobhani on his appointment as Iran’s ambassador to Yerevan during a meeting between the two officials, the IRNA reported on Saturday.

In reference to his nation’s cordial relations with Iran during the last three decades, Khachatryan expressed optimism that Sobhani’s tenure will similarly see a strengthening and development of such relationships.

For his part, the Iranian ambassador thanked the Armenian president for his gracious hospitality and said he was honored to convey the warm greetings of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to his Armenian counterpart and the people of his friendly country.

Sobhani continued by stating that there is significant room for the expansion of relations between Iran and Armenia given their long-standing historical connections.

Also, in a meeting with Iran’s new ambassador to Turkey, Mohammad Hassan Habibollah Zadeh on Thursday afternoon, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for closer cooperation with Iran in countering terrorism and Islamophobia, and Islamic unity.

Referring to the arrival of the month of Muharram and Ashura, the President of Turkey considered Ashura a symbol of Muslim equality and an excuse for the unity of Islamic societies.

He further mentioned various fields of cooperation between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Turkey and emphasized the importance of developing economic and commercial cooperation.

The Turkish leader said the realization of 30 billion dollars of trade between the two countries is within reach and called for efforts to remove trade barriers to realize the figure.

President Erdogan also called for increasing cooperation between the two countries in the field of countering terrorism and Islamophobia and the unity of the Islamic world.

Offering his warm greetings to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution and the Iranian president, Erdogan invited Ebrahim Raisi to visit Turkey. He expressed satisfaction with the upcoming visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey to Tehran.

In the meeting, the new Iranian ambassador outlined his plans for boosting Iran-Turkey relations. 

“The main agenda of the institutions of the two countries is to develop relations, especially in the economic and commercial fields, and at the same time, cooperation and consensus in bilateral, regional and international political issues will be one of the most important issues to be pursued,” Habibollah Zadeh said. 

He pointed to the wide range of cooperation and consultations between the two countries in the political field, including the Astana process, quadrilateral talks, the Caucasus, Palestine, the Islamic world, and the fight against terrorism.

He also stressed the need to deepen interactions between two important countries regarding regional issues.

The Iranian ambassador praised the joint positions of Iran, Turkey and a number of Islamic countries regarding the desecration of the holy Quran, and considered it necessary to strengthen the unity and solidarity of Muslims to counter the trend of Islamophobia and insulting religious sanctities.

Iran has taken strong positions against the desecration of the Quran in Sweden and Denmark, including summoning the Swedish envoy.