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“Tensions are rising in the region which is conditioned with the ongoing escalation of relations between the US and Iran as well as number of other factors,” Ruben Safrastyan, Director of Institute of Oriental Studies, told a news conference on Monday in Yerevan.

In Safrastyan’s words, the US administration tries to exert pressure on Iran at this stage, trying to isolate the Islamic Republic in the region and the world.

“Those pressures have not yielded results thus far, and Iran in all likelihood will continue its independent foreign policy. One of the reasons explaining the US severed stance on Iran is the Islamic republic has drastically increased its leverage in the Middle East over the past year along with exercising its independent foreign policy,” the expert said, adding Iran will make no apparent concessions. On the other hand, the US has not reached the red line to start military actions.
 
Speaking of the election re-run in Turkey’s Istanbul, where the candidate from opposition won the vote after the results of the first elections were annulled, Safrastyan said: “This is a significant development if we take into account the fact that Istanbul generates 30 percent of Turkey’s GDP. As Erdogan once noted who loses Istanbul will lose the national-wide elections in Turkey. This was a major blow to Erdogan who started his political career in the city in 1994 and lost elections for the first time here in 2019.”