Iran Ramps Up Regional Diplomacy: Pezeshkian Heads to Armenia and China

According to Saed News, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is set to make official visits to both Armenia and China in the near future.

According to Fars News Agency, Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi announced that “Masoud Pezeshkian is scheduled to visit Armenia in two weeks.” He also confirmed that the president will travel to China in September to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit.

Earlier this year, on April 22, Araghchi had traveled to China amid indirect negotiations between Iran and the United States, where he initially mentioned the upcoming visit of President Pezeshkian to China.

On July 19, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, in a phone conversation with his Iranian counterpart, expressed his eagerness for the visit, stating: “We are eagerly awaiting your visit to Armenia to discuss and explore ways to enhance bilateral cooperation and interaction.”

President Pezeshkian has already visited another country in the South Caucasus region. On April 27, he paid an official one-day visit to Baku and met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. More recently, on July 3, he traveled to Khankendi (Stepanakert) in Azerbaijan to participate in the 17th Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) summit.

In a recent statement, President Pezeshkian emphasized: “Our foreign policy priority must first be expanding relations with neighboring countries and then strengthening ties with other strategic partners such as Russia and China.”

Previous destinations in President Pezeshkian’s diplomatic itinerary include Iraq, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Egypt, and Pakistan. His most recent international trip was to Pakistan earlier this week, which Foreign Minister Araghchi described as “very successful.”