The Iranian ambassador in Yerevan, Khalil Shirgholami, warned of a risk of dangerous "division" within Armenia on Wednesday when he commented on the controversial arrest of businessman and opposition leader Gagik Tsarukian.
Shirgholami also expressed hope for a compromise settlement of Tsarukian’s dispute with Iranian entrepreneurs which is at the heart of fraud and money laundering charges levelled against him right after his demonstrative arrest on Monday.
The arrest followed a 12-hour search conducted at his villa by law-enforcement authorities. They also raided dozens of companies owned by Tsarukian and halted their operations in a crackdown widely linked to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s repeated pledges to jail and “dispossess” his political foes.
Armenia’s Investigative Committee claims that Tsarukian led a “criminal group” that misappropriated $22 million worth of fuel, transport equipment and other goods supplied by his Iranian business partners from 2022-2024. His lawyers say he himself was defrauded by the Iranians and alerted the law-enforcement authorities about that.
Shirgholami went on to stress in the same context that Iran does not meddle in Armenia’s internal political affairs. But citing Iran’s own political experience, he also warned: “When a certain division is created within a country under the influence of a particular event, it can never bring good results.”
