Iran’s relations with Armenia are so intimate and advancing on a positive course that comments are unnecessary

PanARMENIAN.Net - No one can say what is indeed going on between the clerics and secular power in Iran, as the information received can be neither confirmed nor denied. As for the upcoming visit of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Armenia, most likely it is called to eliminate the concerns of Yerevan regarding the role of Iran in the settlement of the Karabakh conflict and to confirm energy cooperation. The visit will also be evidence for the normal political situation in Iran.

According to Director of Political and Social Research Institute for Black Sea-Caspian Region, Vladimir Zakharov, serious changes are taking place in Iran. “A number of political figures in the country understood that Islamic Iran cannot exist without strict religious control. It can be supported by the clergy only, but that is not characteristic of the XXI century. This is the reason for the confrontation between civil and religious societies,” the expert said.

Zakharov noted that young people don’t reject faith, they “wouldn’t even think of it”, but Iranian youth want to live the way their Western peers do. “It is almost impossible to predict the results of this confrontation. Besides, there is also the conflict with the U.S., the West and a number of Arabian countries. Iran clearly comprehends that American aggression would lead to undesirable consequences,” Zakharov stressed.

Nevertheless, we can make some more assumptions and we’ll get the following picture. After “revelations” of representative of the spiritual leader of Iran, Ayatollah Seyed Ameli “Behind the scenes of Iran–Azerbaijan confrontation” there continue the raging disputes in Azerbaijan. Ameli’s remarks caused quite a sharp estimate in Armenia.

Let us recall that in early May imam Ameli had made a statement that in the Karabakh conflict Iranians, Afghans and Turks fought on the side of Azerbaijan. His words were confirmed by former Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan, brother of late commander of the Azerbaijani Special Police Unit Rovshan Javadov, political emigre exiled to Austria, statesman Mahir Javadov. He affirms that presidents of Azerbaijan Elchibey and Heydar Aliyev did not give Iran an opportunity to assist Azerbaijan in the Karabakh issue.

Armenian-Iranian relations are so intimate and advancing on a positive course that the only source of this kind of information could be Azerbaijan. Neither should it be excluded that imam Ameli is an ethnic Azeri. However, imam’s provocation failed, and tension between Azerbaijan and Iran continues unabated.

Imam Ameli also stated that Iran provided logistical support in bringing thousands of Afghan soldiers to frontline to support Azeri side, if necessary. “Iran supplied arms and ammunition not to Armenians, but to our Azeri brethren. Our bases of military training were located not in Armenia, but in Azerbaijan. Today there live thousands of witnesses in Azerbaijan, who can prove my words. They are alive, and having at least a grain of conscience, they can confirm my words,” declared Ayatollah Seyed Hasan Ameli.

All this smacks of a “leak” of information from Baku, but in no way can it affect the Armenian-Iranian relations. Tehran knows it perfectly well that except for Christian Armenia she has almost no allies in the region. Similarly, Armenia, pressed on all sides, has one reliable path and that is through Iran. It is also through Iran that Armenia may gain access to warm seas and not depend on the whims of Georgia.