Armenia, Iran hold joint military drills amid strains over Azerbaijan, nuclear program

Iran and Armenia were set to conclude two days of joint military exercises along their shared border on Thursday, amid tensions over Iran's nuclear program and between longtime rivals Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Armenia's defense ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that the drills, involving the two sides' special forces, were to take place on either side of the countries' remote 44 km (26 mile) shared frontier.

It said the two sides would practice responding to "attacks by simulated terrorist groups" on border checkpoints.

"The aim of these drills is consolidating the security of the borders on the basis of shared interests of the two countries," Iran's state media cited a Revolutionary Guards official as saying.

Armenia, which has moved closer to the West in recent years, nevertheless preserves warm relations with Iran, which is engaged in a standoff with Western countries over its nuclear ambitions.

Armenia's borders with neighbouring Azerbaijan and Turkey have been closed for more than three decades, giving its mountainous frontier with Iran an outsized economic significance.

Reuters