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.