For How Long Can PM Pashinyan Mislead The Iranian Leadership?

 

Since the signing of the TRIPP “Memorandum of Understanding” in Washington, D.C. back in August 2025, a long list of Iranian political figures conveyed, from multiple platforms, serious concerns to the government of PM Pashinyan, and unfortunately none of the declarations made by the Armenian side to the Iranian parties sounded genuine or managed to address with tangible results Iran’s warning that NO foreign entity will be allowed to operate at the Iranian-Armenian border.

Less than a week ago, Khalil Shirgholami, The Islamic Republic’s ambassador in Yerevan pointed out to journalists that

“Despite assurances made by the Armenian government, Iran remains concerned about its plans to open a US-run transit corridor for Azerbaijan along the Armenian-Iranian border,...We have serious concerns on this issue and expect Armenia to give us confidence that there will be no presence of any foreign forces on the Armenian-Iranian border and nobody could create a danger for Iran along that border and adjacent areas.”

Yesterday (Nov.05/26), Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader on international affairs, issued a stern warning to PM Pashinyan, in an article titled “An open and frank appeal to the Prime Minister of Armenia.”

What are the key concerns, fears, and reservations expressed by Mr. Velayati?

- TRIPP is a project that “runs counter to the interests of the Armenian people.” It will not bring “Peace” to the region. On the contrary, it will pave the way for hostilities between the two countries-Iran and Armenia.

- “Iran considers the protection of security in the South Caucasus its responsibility, with or without Russia’s involvement.” In other words, even if Pashinyan succeeds in eliminating totally Russian presence in Armenia, Iran will not hesitate to adopt any measure that will safeguard its national interests.

- Mr. Velayati revisited a meeting that took place five years ago in Tehran between Iran’s then-Supreme Leader, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of an Astana-format summit. Mr. Velayati emphasized the point that, Iran made it clear to the participants, that the creation of the Zangezur Corridor was one of the “red lines” of Iran’s foreign policy.

- Mr. Velayati confirmed that, on multiple occasions during the last five years, he met Armenia’s deputy foreign minister and its ambassador to Tehran, and emphasized the fact that PM Pashinyan is making “Serious Miscalculations” with his attempts to evict Russia from the South Caucasus, and establish a U.S. presence at the Armenian-Iranian border. “I also told the Armenian ambassador my final word: if Trump and his allies try to cross this ‘red line’ of Iran’s, we will break their legs.”

PM Pashinyan, often ridiculed Iranian concerns, and insisted that TRIPP/Zangezur Corridor is simply the outsourcing of a national infrastructure (40Km road) to a Third Party (USA). According to Pashinyan, the move is similar to outsourcing the airport, railways, or postal services of a country to a third party, to improve efficiency and generate a bigger revenue for the State.

This analogy is absurd, misleading, and dangerous according to Mr. Vartan Oskanian, Armenia's former Foreign Affairs Minister, who challenged Pashinyan’s warped logic in a Facebook Post Published on 16 July 2025 titled “Outsourcing Syunik: A Corridor Too Far.”

Mr. Vartanian presented in his article the following arguments:

“First, outsourcing the management of an airport or a postal service is a commercial arrangement in which national jurisdiction remains fully intact. The Republic of Armenia continues to exercise sovereignty over its land, airspace, and legal framework. These are standard public-private partnerships used globally to promote development, modernization, and efficiency—while retaining full national control.

By contrast, the “corridor” concept—demanded by Azerbaijan and occasionally echoed by outside powers—implies something entirely different: the extra-territorialization of Armenian land. It envisions a strip of sovereign territory removed from Armenia’s legal, administrative, and security authority, ceded either de facto or de jure to another power (USA). That is not a commercial transaction; it is a derogation of sovereignty. The distinction is simple but fundamental: outsourcing services is governance; outsourcing a “corridor” is territorial concession.

Pashinyan’s rhetorical deception blurs this line, disorienting public understanding and dangerously lowering the bar for future concessions. To suggest that handing over jurisdiction of a transit route is akin to granting a concession to run Zvartnots Airport is to confuse the leasing of a service with the abandonment of a border.”

Iran is clearly warning PM Pashinyan: abandoning the Armenian-Iranian border and placing it under the control of The US government is unacceptable. Every available means will be used, including a regional war, to protect the interests of Iran.

Is Pashinyan ready to contain the dramatic events that will impact Armenia if he keeps trivializing the concerns of Iran? Or is he going to do what he has always done best, bury his head in the sand and pretend that it is business as usual on the Armenian-Iranian border, with one minor difference-the business is under the control of a US company?

Pashinyan is an incompetent leader with NO FORESIGHT. He decided to play with fire without weighing properly the consequences of his myopic policies. He failed to notice that the new world order is based on power, not appeals to moral values, ethical principles, and international law. For more details read:The Rules-Based International Order Collapsed. Can Pashinyan Adapt To The Laws Of The Jungle or The Donroe Doctrine?

Remember who Pashinyan is: “...a man ignorant of the law, well-nigh an enemy to his people’s advantage, while intent on his personal convenience, a dedicated voluptuary, a hater of learning, freedom and truth, without a thought for the interests of his country, and measuring everything in terms of his own profit and desires.“ [Desiderius Erasmus]