Yerevan /Mediamax/. Today, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi will arrive in Armenia on an official visit.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry reports that a meeting between Ararat Mirzoyan and his Iranian counterpart is scheduled for March 25.

As part of the visit, the presentation of Araghchi’s book “The Power of Negotiation” will take place.

Mediamax notes that in July 2024, Aravot published an excerpt from the memoirs of former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, which mentioned Araghchi’s visit to Yerevan during the 2020 war.

“Two months before the attack, our Foreign Ministry’s Eurasian and Caucasus departments had the impression that an attack by Azerbaijan and a complete defeat of Armenia were expected. Russia, perhaps, considering Mr. Pashinyan’s pro-Western stance and efforts to suppress pro-Russian forces within the country, decided not to intervene in this war. Perhaps, the Putin-Aliyev personal ties, like the Putin-Erdogan ties, played a role in that decision. It is not ruled out that Russia no longer regarded Armenia as a strategic partner and, considering Azerbaijan’s resources, shifted its alignment accordingly. Russia began its mediation at a time when the occupied Azerbaijani territories had been liberated, Armenia’s territorial integrity was under threat, and the continuation of the war for even a few more days would have likely led to the collapse of the Armenian government. It was then that the Russians intervened and ended the war with an iron fist in the Moscow negotiations.

It is very important that in those days we sent Dr. Araghchi (at that time Zarif’s deputy) as the Iranian President’s authorized representative to Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, and Turkey to present the proposal we had prepared in Tehran. It was similar to the Moscow proposal, which was implemented two weeks later. Dr. Araghchi discussed our proposal with all four parties: the Azeris and Turks accepted our proposal, the Armenians rejected it, and the Russians did not react warmly. Our proposal called for the mutual liberation of territories, the protection of minority rights, and the opening of all transportation routes. Iran would facilitated the creation of a land connection between Nakhichevan and Azerbaijan, and work on the Armenia-Karabakh corridor. We also proposed a trilateral meeting between Iran, Turkey, and Russia to address the Karabakh issue. This format was first proposed by Lavrov, but the Russians did not respond to our persistent efforts, and then, ignoring us, they pushed Turkey forward.

The main obstacle to the implementation of the first proposal presented by Dr. Araghchi was Armenia. At that time, when they had not yet lost the war, the Armenians made a strategic mistake by rejecting the honorable ceasefire proposal. Mr. Pashinyan’s attitude towards Dr. Araghchi made everything clear: in his inexperience, he remarked:

‘You want to force Armenia to accept its defeat.’ Of course, Dr. Araghchi, with his excellent diplomatic skills, managed to reassure Mr. Pashinyan not to perceive the proposal in that way.”