According to the poll conducted by Armenian researchers on behalf of the IRI last month, 53 percent of respondents consider Iran to be Armenia’s most important “political partner.” It is followed by France (48 percent) and Russia (45 percent), the South Caucasus nation’s traditional ally increasingly at odds with the current Armenian government.
When asked to about Armenia’s key “security partner,” the respondents, who were allowed to give multiple answers, likewise mentioned Iran more than any other country. Forty-nine percent of them have such a perception of the Islamic Republic. France and Russia were named by 38 percent and 37 percent respectively.
Iran’s perceived significance for Armenia’s national security has grown considerably in recent years amid the erosion of Russian-Armenian security ties that followed the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh and accelerated after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Many Armenian politicians, pundits and ordinary citizens now view Iran as the main deterrent against Azerbaijan’s threats to open a land corridor to its Nakhichevan exclave through Syunik, the only Armenian province bordering the Islamic Republic. Iranian leaders have repeatedly warned against attempts to strip their country of its common border with Armenia. Armenian and Iranian troops held a first-ever joint military exercise there in April.