TEHRAN – Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has hailed relations with Iran as friendly, expressing hope for further enhancement of ties with Iran in the realm of trade. 

In an interview with Al Jazeera, the Armenian prime minister touched on the relations with neighboring countries, including Iran. 

“We have four neighbors, and with two of them we have very good relations, I mean Georgia and Iran. Iran is a friendly country for us, and we consider Iran as a friendly country, which also has good relations with Azerbaijan too,” he said, according to ARMENPRESS.

He added, “It isn’t our intention not to have good relations with countries which have good relations with Azerbaijan. But now we have very close ties with Iran.”

He also expressed hope that through cooperation with Iran, Armenia will be able to enhance the bilateral trade with Qatar as well.

He said, “And we are working on developing the communications connecting Iran with Armenia, and now we are in the process of constructing a very strategic highway named North-South, connecting our Georgian border with our Iranian border.”

Pashinyan noted, “And we hope that as a result of that project, our economic relations with Iran will increase. By the way, the Eurasian Economic Union has free trade agreement with Iran which is very important for our bilateral relations as well.”

Iran enjoys strong relations with Armenia and during the last war in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, Iran sought to make peace between Yerevan and Baku. 

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday that the speaker of the Armenian Parliament is traveling to Tehran this week.

Earlier in June, Pashinyan spoke over the phone with Iranian President Ayatollah Seyed Ebrahim Raisi. 

In the call, Raisi described the ongoing consultations as a sign of the importance and depth of friendly relations between the two countries and said, "Iran considers Armenia a friendly country and attaches great importance to neighborly relations with Armenia.”

He described one of Iran's main policies as supporting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of all countries. "Preserving the geopolitics of the region, including international borders and respecting the national sovereignty of countries is emphasized by the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the president asserted.

Expressing Iran’s support for the development of bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the fields of energy and transportation, Raisi noted, "This cooperation will strengthen peace, stability and economic and trade prosperity in the region," according to the official website of the Iranian presidency.

Raisi further stated that Iran supports the progress in the peace talks between Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan, and said, "We hope that the remaining issues in this field are resolved peacefully and with respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the two countries, in accordance with the principles of international law and also paying attention to the rights and security of all the people of the Caucasus region.”

The president emphasized, "The Islamic Republic of Iran is deeply committed to the fact that the issues of the region must be resolved with the consensus and cooperation of all countries in the region and on the basis of common interests and mutual respect.”

Raisi pointed out, "The Zionist Regime is by no means a friend of the nations of the region and the oppression that this regime has inflicted on the Palestinian people is unprecedented in history. The activities of the Zionist regime must be faced with sensitivity and caution in order to prevent its influence in the region.”

In the telephone conversation, the Armenian prime minister reported on the implemented agreements and appreciated the principled positions of Iran in the developments in the region and insisted on maintaining the territorial integrity and sovereignty of all countries. He also described Iran’s role in the region as important and effective.

Expressing his country's interest in developing economic, trade, political and cultural interactions and cooperation with Iran, the Prime Minister of Armenia said, "The continuous holding of a joint commission on economic cooperation between the two countries will definitely facilitate and accelerate the expanding process of relations between the two countries."

Explaining the process of negotiations and consultations between Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan, Pashinyan welcomed the holding of the 3+3 countries summit in Tehran as soon as possible.