page_title: Armenia–Iran relations
section_title: Context
hierarchical_section_title: Armenia–Iran relations / Context
caption_attribution_description: Saint Stepanous Cathedral, Jolfa, Iran
context_page_description: Armenia–Iran relations are the bilateral relations between Iran and Armenia.
  Despite religious and ideological differences, relations between Armenia and the Islamic Republic of Iran remain cordial and Armenia and Iran are strategic partners in the region.
  The two neighbouring countries share to a great extent similar history and culture, and have had relations for thousands of years, starting with the Median Empire. The territory of present-day Armenia made part of Iran up to 1828, when it was forcefully ceded to neighbouring Imperial Russia through the consequences of the Russo-Persian War and the resulting Treaty of Turkmenchay.
  There are no border disputes between the two countries and the Christian Armenian minority in Iran, amongst the largest and oldest communities in the world, enjoys official recognition. Of special importance is the cooperation in the field of energy security which lowers Armenia's dependence on Russia and can in the future also supply Iranian gas to Europe through Georgia and the Black Sea.
caption: The Saint Stepanos Monastery is an Armenian monastery about 15 km northwest of Jolfa city, East Azarbaijan Province, northwest Iran, situated in a deep canyon along the Aras river. Though built in the 9th century, St Bartholomew built a church on the same site in 62 AD.[4]
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot A520", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2007:02:11 02:32:51", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "196", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "180", "Thumbnail YResolution": "180", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "2548", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5347", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/1000", "EXIF FNumber": "9/2", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:02:11 02:32:51", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:02:11 02:32:51", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "319/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "139/32", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "11/4", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "93/16", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2272", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1704", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "2272", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "1704", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1860", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "71000/7", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "71000/7", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}