IRANIAN SPEAKER PRAISES TIES WITH ARMENIA
By Hovannes Shoghikian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Sept 12 2006

The speaker of the Iranian parliament, Gholamali Haddad-Adel, ended
a two-day official visit to Armenia on Tuesday, reiterating Tehran’s
strong interest in maintaining close political and economic ties
with Yerevan.

"Iran is a big country with a large population and great potential,"
he said after talks with President Robert Kocharian and other Armenian
leaders. "In my view, independent positions adopted by the Republic
of Armenia allow us to use that potential for further developing
and deepening our bilateral relations and making our countries more
prosperous."

Kocharian’s press office quoted Haddad-Adel as telling the Armenian
leader earlier in the day that Armenia "occupies a special place"
in the list of Iran’s ex-Soviet neighbors. Kocharian, for his part,
praised the current state of Iranian-Armenian relations, pointing to
large-scale bilateral energy projects.

The implementation of those projects seems to have gained a new
momentum since Kocharian’s early July visit to Tehran where he held
talks with Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The most important
of them is the ongoing construction of a pipeline which is due to
start pumping Iranian natural gas to Armenia next year.

Speaking at a joint news conference with his Armenian counterpart
Tigran Torosian, Haddad-Adel indicated that the two governments are
considering building another pipeline that would allow for Iranian
gas exports to third countries. "The main purpose of the pipelines
built from Iran to Armenia is to supply Armenia with gas," he said.

"But naturally, when Iranian gas starts flowing into Armenia, perhaps
it will be exported to other countries as well."

Kocharian’s last trip to Tehran also yielded an agreement on the
construction of a third high-voltage transmission line that will
connect the Armenian and Iranian power grids. In addition, the two
countries intend to build a major hydro-electric plant on the river
Arax marking the Armenian-Iranian border.

"Relations between our two countries are exemplary for the entire
region," declared Torosian.

The Armenian speaker also sounded sympathetic to Tehran’s controversial
nuclear program, taking an apparent swipe at the United States which
has been pushing for international sanctions against the Islamic
Republic. "No country or a group of countries must use their powers
at one or another point to restrict other countries’ rights," he said.

Torosian went on to repeat Yerevan’s calls for a peaceful resolution
of the Iranian nuclear dispute. "We all hope that issues relating to
Iran’s nuclear program will find solutions within the framework of
negotiations and in accordance with international treaties," he said.