Page 8 - IRANRptOct19

But Pashinian and Putin appeared to get along swimmingly. By the end of the day Pashinian escorted his Russian counterpart back to his plane and even gave him a hug goodbye​.
“I had another one-and-a-half hour meeting with the Russian president at Zvartnots [the Yerevan airport],” Pashinian​ ​posted on Facebook​ ​afterwards. “Armenia-Russia relations are on a reliable and positive track.”
Putin, too, had only kind words. “There was not a single setback,” he told Pashinyan at a​ ​one-on-one meeting​. ​“On the contrary, all agreements between EEU members have been reached. You have done everything you could for this productive work.” Following the meeting he invited Pashinian to Moscow for a state visit.
As is usually the case with the EEU, concrete news from the summit was scant. Moscow and Yerevan are in the middle of difficult negotiations over the price of gas that Russia sells Armenia and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani – who was there to iron out a free trade agreement with the EEU –​ ​suggested that Iran and Armenia could expand their gas and other energy trade. Singapore’s prime minister also joined the summit, where he signed a free trade pact with the group.
In the absence of big announcements, much of the importance of the visit was about symbolism. Pashinian took his guests to the country’s Tumo technology education centre, a showcase for the tech-driven future Armenia sees for itself.
But it was a selfie taken by Pashinian on a minibus, along with several counterparts – including the rarely selfied Putin and Rouhani – that seemed to be the biggest news from the summit. It was naturally instantly and widely memed; one had Putin saying “Driver, make a stop at Izmirlyan,” the hospital where Kocharyan was being treated.
2.4 ​Iran Stand-off: Day brings tentative step towards peaceful Gulf outcome
A tantalising scent of a viable but still very elusive rapprochement between Iran and its foes was in the air on October 2.
Early in the day, following a cabinet meeting, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said live on state TV that a plan for talks presented to the US and the Islamic Republic by French President Emmanuel Macron was broadly acceptable to the Iranians. Rouhani simply noted that some wording would require changing in the plan, which would require Iran to give a new guarantee that it will not develop nuclear weapons and help preserve the security of the region and its waterways. In return, Washington would have to remove all the sanctions it has hit Iran with since unilaterally walking out of the 2015 nuclear deal struck by Tehran and six world powers. Such a move would allow Iran to immediately resume oil sales currently hindered by the US strategy of attempting to drive exports of Iranian crude to zero.
Of course, that might all seem eminently reasonable, but then one also has to factor in the blustery, highly unpredictable US President Donald Trump when deciding if there is actually some kind of steady course that can be set.
8​ IRAN Country Report​ October 2019 www.intellinews.com