Hakob Badalyan: Armenian-Iranian military exercises are unprecedented and politically significant
The Armenian-Iranian military exercises are undoubtedly very important and, in a certain sense, unprecedented, political analyst Hakob Badalyan told ABC media regarding the recently held exercises.
“Of course, the Armenian units participating in the exercises operated on Armenian territory, while the Iranian units operated in their own territory. However, this is fundamentally a matter of formation; the fact is that joint exercises were conducted, and in this sense, this can primarily be an important step toward deepening Armenian-Iranian cooperation, particularly in the defense sector,” Badalyan said.
The expert noted that the exercises also hold political significance. He said this undoubtedly sends a political signal that Yerevan and Tehran have a more practical attitude toward joint actions, in terms of working toward ensuring stability and peace management.
“This is certainly a signal not only to Azerbaijan, and perhaps not so much to Azerbaijan, but to those players who, under the current geopolitical realities, might consider any option or scenario for destabilization of the Caucasus. That scenario would, of course, be implemented through Azerbaijan, and we can certainly speak about a signal directed at Azerbaijan, but there is a broader meaning in terms of the political message that does not refer solely to Azerbaijan,” the analyst noted.
At the same time, Badalyan drew attention to another important aspect.
“These Armenian-Iranian exercises take place amid the discussions related to the Iranian president’s upcoming visit to Azerbaijan. There are reports that preparations are underway for that visit, which may occur in the very near future, perhaps in the coming days. It is noteworthy that this Armenian-Iranian agreement on the exercises was made before that visit and it is being implemented, and another notable aspect may be that the parties were, in fact, able to keep the information about the agreement on the exercises, so to speak, from leaking. It seems that before the announcement, before officially announcing it, no unofficial information was disseminated that joint Armenian-Iranian military exercises were expected. This is also a certain indicator of how carefully the parties approached this operation, and this means how great importance they attached to it,” Badalyan concluded.
