Analyst: Strategic interests of Armenia demand Iran`s return to the  South Caucasus

ArmInfo. The return of Iran to the South Caucasus proceeds from the strategic interests of Armenia. More specifically, we are talking about the Armenian strategic  planning, from which the representatives of the current Armenian  political class are so far away. Independent analyst Saro Saroyan  expressed this opinion to ArmInfo.

"I' don't mean to stimulate any pro-Iranian sentiments in Armenia.  But I find that today is the time to carry out such a foreign policy  that will provide real assistance to the return of Iran after an  almost 200-year hiatus to our region. A policy that will allow the  Iranians to cross the Araks River and turn upside down a 200-year-old  playing board called Transcaucasia or the South Caucasus.

In this light, the analyst recalled that, since 1828, Iran has not  been present in the South Caucasus in any way as a result of the  implementation of Russia's policy in the region aimed at monopolizing  the external presence and turning it into a zone of exclusively its  own influence. Moreover, over the past 150 years as a result of the  transformation of borders, ethnic cleansing, destruction, etc. the  habitat of the Armenian people shrank to 30, at best 40 thousand  square kilometers.

Saroyan considers the current discourses in Armenia regarding  Armenian-Russian friendship and Armenian-Turkish reconciliation to be  a direct consequence of Moscow's many years of strategic planning  within the framework of the Transcaucasia-South Caucasus discourse.  In his opinion, even today, almost 200 years later, the course of  developments in the region shows that it has been on the same  geopolitical channel within the framework of the same political  model. The latter, according to his forecasts, creates an existential  threat to the very existence of the Armenian nation, moreover, in the  coming decades.

"Accordingly, for us the current military exercises of Iran near the  Araks River are important not so much in the short term as in the  medium term. It matters in the context of such developments and  impulses that will allow our people to form and affirm their own  interests, 200-year status quo ",  summed up the analyst.

Iran began to mobilize troops to the border of Azerbaijan near the  Araks River in mid-September. Reacting to Aliyev's indignation in  this regard, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said that the exercise is  the sovereign right of any state. nd only a day before the start of  the maneuvers, Commander of the Iranian Army Ground Force Brigadier  General Kiomars Heidari, made an official statement, explaining the  goals and objectives of the maneuvers. Actually, this is evidenced by  the very name of the exercices - "Conquerors of Khaibar". The  stronghold of the Jews, the Khaybar oasis north of Medina, in 629 was  captured by the Muslim army led by the Prophet Muhammad.