A Rousing Welcome for Pashinian by Iran’s Armenian Community

TEHRAN—Thousands of Iranian-Armenian community members filled the massive hall at the Ararat Stadium and Cultural Center to give Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and his wife, Anna Hakobian, a rousing welcome to Iran as the Armenian leader ended a day of meetings with Iranian leaders, further cementing the ties between the two countries.

With a message of national unity and the need to pursue a future with a national agenda, Pashinian greeted the Iranian-Armenian leaders, saying the success of the popular movement, which changed Armenia’s trajectory, must be translated into advancing relations.

“We no longer have an Armenia agenda and a Diaspora agenda. We have a pan-national agenda whose purpose to serve our national goals,” Pashinian told the thousands gathered at Ararat.

“We have to create our future with our own hands, just as we created our present with our own hands. Our fate no longer lies in the East, North or South. It is in our hands. We, as dignified citizens, must reach out and grab the wheel of our future, and, as a government and as a people, must create and welcome new victories,” said Pashinian emphasizin