Tehran's gas diplomacy: the Armenian direction.
At the meeting of the Armenian-Iranian intergovernmental committee held in Yerevan on November 10, the Vice President of Iran, Seyed Hamid Pourmohammadi, announced his willingness to export natural gas to Armenia. According to him, in light of the "enormous gas reserves", Tehran is ready to consider Armenia as a major export destination.
"You can't find a better friend for that than Armenia," he said.
It would be a mistake to see this statement solely as an expression of diplomatic ethics towards a neighbor. Given that Iranian gas has been exported to Armenia since the launch of the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline (2007), Pourmohammadi's statement contains a deeper context.
The regional dimension of the rhetoric is clear. The ongoing attempts to change the transport and logistics architecture in the South Caucasus, if successful, will lead to the formation of a new energy map of the region. In particular, the possible launch of the North-South electricity corridor (Iran-Armenia-Georgia-Russia), the prospects for opening an energy transport communication in southern Armenia, the expected launch of an energy cable along the bottom of the Black Sea and a number of other geo-economic initiatives create new opportunities for Iran as one of the key players in the Eurasian energy market.
On the other hand, ongoing restrictions on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz force Tehran to hedge risks. With limited opportunities to enter foreign markets through the strait, Iran is increasingly looking at the South Caucasus and Central Asia as potential directions for entering the Eurasian space. Hence the critical attitude of some of the Iranian leadership towards the "Trump route", which, among other things, may limit Iran's logistical capabilities.
Turning to the purely Armenian-Iranian dimension of Pourmohammadi's statement, let's emphasize the electricity factor.