The complex regional situation around Iran simultaneously creates both additional challenges and certain opportunities for Armenia. This opinion was expressed by political analyst Sergey Minasyan, commenting on official Yerevan’s phone calls to Baku and Ankara.
According to him, every crisis situation usually has a dual impact: it can exacerbate existing problems, but at the same time, it gives some countries the opportunity to rethink their role in the region and take advantage of newly emerging opportunities.
In this context, Minasyan notes, Armenia is trying to make use of the situation by leveraging its geographic location and relatively neutral stance. He emphasizes that Armenia maintains fairly good relations with various centers — with Iran, the United States, European countries, and also with Russia. This allows Yerevan to act as a certain connecting link in the region.
The analyst also points out that Armenia seeks to offer its territory as a transit and relatively safe route for regional countries, considering the current unstable situation. However, he stresses that this process cannot be simple or universally acceptable for everyone.
Minasyan reminds that there are also sensitive issues in Armenian society regarding the possibility of such initiatives. In particular, discussions concern the potential cooperation with Azerbaijan under conditions where Azerbaijan continues to occupy parts of Armenian territory. Moreover, the issue of prisoners remains unresolved, which creates additional tension in public perception. All these circumstances, according to the analyst, indicate that the process cannot be quick or straightforward.
At the same time, he notes that so far no corresponding responses have been publicly received from Baku and Ankara, which also demonstrates that the situation is still in the stage of discussions and assessments.
Nevertheless, Minasyan emphasizes that the important fact is that even under such crisis conditions, Armenia tries to find opportunities that could contribute to one of the country’s main political goals — maintaining the peace agenda. In his assessment, for Armenia’s leadership and political team, the key task at the moment is to ensure the continuity of this agenda even amidst serious and large-scale developments in the region and the world, including the crisis surrounding Iran.