Armenian church in Lebanon underlines Iran's significant role in region

Armenian Church Leader Aram I, in a meeting with Iran's Ambassador to Beirut Qazanfar Roknabadi, stressed that Iran's vital role in the region caused the US officials to change tone and try to normalize ties with Tehran. During the Saturday meeting, the senior religious leader underscored the importance of a phone conversation between US President Barack Obama and Iran' President Hassan Rouhani in New York, and said it was a very important development in the international arena that can be effective in solving problems of the region, including Syria and Lebanon. He went on to say that world Armenians, including the US Armenians, agree with this new development in Iran-US ties. Late in September, media reports said that the Iranian and the US presidents talked over phone before President Rouhani’s departure from New York. The two presidents talked over the phone as President Rouhani was in a car and heading towards the New York International Airport. President Rouhani and President Obama discussed different issues during their phone conversation. The Iranian and US presidents underlined the need for a political will for expediting resolution of West’s standoff with Iran over the latter’s nuclear program. President Rouhani and President Obama stressed the necessity for mutual cooperation on different regional issues. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his US counterpart John Kerry have been commissioned to follow up talks between the two countries. Iran and the world powers have held several rounds of talks on a range of issues, with the main focus being on Iran’s nuclear energy program. The two sides wrapped up their latest round of negotiations on April 6 in the Kazakh city of Almaty. An earlier meeting had been held in the city on February 26-27. The US, Israel and some of their allies claim that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program, with Washington and the European Union using the unfounded allegation as a pretext to impose sanctions on Iran. Tehran strongly rejects the groundless claim over its nuclear activities, maintaining that as a committed signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it is entitled to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.