YEREVAN, Armenia — Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who was reelected for a third term in parliamentary elections last month, was among a handful of leaders to attend the funeral of Iran’s slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran this week. Until recently, the move would have been considered perfectly normal. Iran, alongside Russia, was ranked among Armenia’s top — if difficult — allies. Today, Armenia is actively seeking to exit the Kremlin’s orbit and forge strategic ties with the United States and the European Union, while seeking to make lasting peace with its historical enemies, Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Coming amid ongoing hostilities between the United States and Iran, Pashinyan’s visit may hence seem a contradiction, all the more so perhaps as NATO leaders, including President Donald Trump, were traveling next door to Turkey for their annual summit. However, the trip, which followed another visit to Russia’s Yekaterinburg on July 6 where he met with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, highlights the precarious balancing act Pashinyan must maintain to keep his small, landlocked nation — already wracked by two bruising wars with Azerbaijan — out of further trouble.

Emboldened by its unexpected resilience in the face of US and Israeli attacks, Iran is projecting greater confidence, not least toward Armenia, with which it shares a 44-kilometer (27-mile) border. The diminutive strip is critical to Iran’s access to the Black Sea and gives the Islamic Republic leverage over its other northern neighbor and close ally of Israel, Azerbaijan.

In October 2024, Iran opened its largest permanent foreign trade center in Yerevan as part of a broader push to increase two-way trade — which stood at roughly $770 million in 2025 — to as much as $3 billion, while creating a three-way hub with India that would connect it to Europe.