ISTANBUL

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Tuesday said his country and neighboring Iran agreed on the need to elevate the bilateral ties to the level of a strategic partnership.

“We concurred that it is high time to work toward elevating the relations between our countries to the level of strategic partnership,” Pashinyan said during a joint press conference with visiting Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian following talks in Yerevan, according to the Armenian state news agency Armenpress.

Expressing confidence that the Iranian president’s visit to Yerevan would boost bilateral relations, Pashinyan said his country highly appreciates Iran’s stance regarding Armenia’s “territorial integrity, sovereignty, and inviolability of borders.”

Pashinyan noted that Armenia and Iran agreed to build a second bridge on their border, and that both countries seek to further boost their trade turnover.

He further said that active bilateral cooperation in economy, infrastructure, energy, healthcare, culture, and environment continued, also noting their engagement in active political dialogue.

For his part, Pezeshkian was quoted as saying that Iran wants to develop its relationship with Armenia in “all areas.”

“Based on the atmosphere of trust, we have great will to develop the level of cooperation. We can increase the level of cooperation, especially in the field of the economy,” he further said.

He also described peace in the South Caucasus region as a “strategic priority” for Iran, going on to express Tehran’s support for the peace talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

The two countries signed 10 documents following the talks in the Armenian capital, including a joint statement which also highlighted the desire to “deepen the relations of the two countries and elevate the ties to the level of strategic partnership.”

The Iranian president arrived in Yerevan on an official visit on Monday.

According to the Belarusian presidency, the Iranian president will arrive in Minsk later Tuesday, and will hold talks with his counterpart Alexander Lukashenko on Wednesday.

Pezeshkian’s visit to Yerevan comes as Azerbaijan and Armenia initialed a 17-point peace deal brokered by the US on Aug. 8, aiming to end decades of conflict between the two Southern Caucasus neighbors, following a trilateral summit in Washington, DC.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought a series of cross-border wars since the late 1980s, including most recently in 2023, when Baku liberated its territory of Karabakh.