{"id":36608,"date":"2026-05-09T18:19:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T18:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/36608\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T18:19:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T18:19:12","slug":"summit-in-yerevan-and-tensions-in-the-strait-of-hormuz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/36608\/","title":{"rendered":"Summit in Yerevan and tensions in the Strait of Hormuz"},"content":{"rendered":"

The editorial team of\u00a0Caliber.Az<\/a> presents the latest episode of the programme \u201cEvents\u201d with Murad Abiyev. <\/p>\n

Azerbaijan\u2013Armenia<\/p>\n

The 8th summit of the European Political Community was held in Yerevan. The event was remembered primarily for the hyperactivity of French President Emmanuel Macron. Seizing every opportunity to speak publicly, Macron promoted from every possible platform the idea that Armenia \u2014 which for many years had effectively been a colony of Russia \u2014 has now, under Nikol Pashinyan, made a geopolitical and civilisational choice in favour of Europe.<\/p>\n

The conclusion that Yerevan has definitively chosen Europe appears somewhat premature, given Armenia\u2019s many areas of dependence on Russia \u2014 ranging from Russia\u2019s military and economic presence to Armenia\u2019s membership in the Eurasian Economic Union. At the same time, Macron\u2019s rhetoric serves a specific political purpose: to lend support to Nikol Pashinyan and his party ahead of the parliamentary elections, which are now fast approaching.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev addressed the summit via video link. Among other things, he reaffirmed Baku\u2019s commitment to the peace agenda with Yerevan and thanked the European Commission for its position regarding the peace process. However, he sharply criticised the openly biased actions of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the European Parliament towards Azerbaijan. Referring to the latter\u2019s adoption of as many as 14 anti-Azerbaijani resolutions filled with insults and falsehoods since May 2021, the president described its conduct as an obsession.<\/p>\n

The response by European Parliament President Roberta Metsola was as predictable as it was absurd. \u201cThe European Parliament is a democratic body with elected representatives, whose resolutions are adopted by majority vote. Its results may cause inconvenience to many, but we will never change our working methods and the position we adopt,\u201d Metsola stated.<\/p>\n

Interesting \u2014 since when has democracy automatically become an absolution for all sins? Since when has it been assumed that democratic systems are incapable of making mistaken, harmful, or even immoral and criminal decisions? This would be an appropriate moment to recall the colonial laws once enacted by European states or the infamous American Fugitive Slave Act. What is the value of democratically elected deputies if their mindset is steeped in Islamophobia and Turkophobia, while faction leaders are entangled in corrupt schemes involving major lobbying groups? Was it not the democratically elected former Vice-President of the European Parliament, Eva Kaili, who became embroiled in a major corruption scandal? The questions are rhetorical.<\/p>\n

During the outgoing week, Azerbaijan received two high-ranking European guests \u2014 Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the European Union\u2019s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

During President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev\u2019s meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the main focus was placed on energy cooperation, within which Italy remains Azerbaijan\u2019s principal trading partner and one of the largest consumers of Azerbaijani hydrocarbons. Among other things, Aliyev also spoke about plans to expand supplies via the Trans Adriatic Pipeline and to develop new areas of cooperation, including military-technical ties, investment, and joint manufacturing projects.<\/p>\n

Meloni described Azerbaijan as a key partner for Italy in the field of energy security following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and expressed interest in expanding cooperation not only in energy, but also in transport, industry, defence, the aerospace sector, and high technologies.<\/p>\n

The talks with Meloni and Kaja Kallas in Baku underscore that, despite resistance from certain political circles in Europe, cooperation between the Old Continent and Azerbaijan is of a long-term strategic nature, and its importance is only increasing amid growing global turbulence.<\/p>\n

United States \u2013 Iran<\/p>\n

The confrontation in the Strait of Hormuz continues. On May 7, the United States and Iran exchanged strikes in what became the most significant escalation since the month-long ceasefire began.<\/p>\n

The week was also marked by the fact that the United States first announced and then, just a day later, suspended Operation Project Freedom, under which Washington had planned to escort vessels stranded in the Persian Gulf due to Iran\u2019s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

According to the Financial Times, the unexpected cancellation of the operation was linked to opposition from Saudi Arabia. Sources cited by the newspaper stated that Riyadh considered Washington\u2019s plans to be \u201cnot well thought through” and aggravating the situation. In this connection, the kingdom reportedly barred the United States from using its military bases and airspace.<\/p>\n

Washington has officially denied any link between the suspension of the operation and Saudi Arabia, explaining its decision instead by citing requests from Pakistan and other countries, as well as the fact that significant progress has been achieved towards a full and final agreement with Iran.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

If reports about Riyadh\u2019s role are accurate, they offer a very revealing picture of the emerging fault line among the monarchies of the Persian Gulf. Thus, the United Arab Emirates, acting in solidarity with Israel, has been urging the United States to deliver a decisive strike against Iran and is deploying the Israeli-made Iron Dome to counter Iranian attacks.<\/p>\n

As for Saudi Arabia, it appears either to have chosen a wait-and-see approach in order to determine its future role within the Middle Eastern security architecture, or to be undertaking a genuine shift towards a multi-vector foreign policy. Such a reorientation, of course, cannot occur spontaneously and, with a high degree of probability, reflects the growing influence of China in the region.<\/p>\n

It should be recalled that China is not only a major importer of Saudi oil and one of the kingdom\u2019s principal trading partners, but also a significant investor in the Saudi economy. Beijing views the situation around Iran as an important opportunity to strengthen its political influence in the Middle East by supporting the international agency and strategic autonomy of regional states.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Despite this, the fact that Iran is being strangled by a naval blockade is still regarded by Donald Trump as an unquestionable trump card. It is no coincidence that he nevertheless announced a trip to China on May 14\u201315 and a meeting with Xi Jinping, which had previously been postponed because of the conflict surrounding Iran.<\/p>\n

The very fact that the meeting has now been scheduled suggests, on the one hand, that Trump has regained relatively firm ground beneath his feet and, on the other, that postponing the talks any longer is no longer possible \u2014 too many contentious issues have accumulated, ranging from trade wars to global conflicts and tensions surrounding Taiwan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The editorial team of\u00a0Caliber.Az presents the latest episode of the programme \u201cEvents\u201d with Murad Abiyev. Azerbaijan\u2013Armenia The 8th…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36609,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2387],"tags":[7,13,12,258,8,11,6,10,9,5],"class_list":{"0":"post-36608","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-european-parliament","8":"tag-analysis-of-azerbaijan","9":"tag-azerbaijan","10":"tag-baku","11":"tag-european-parliament","12":"tag-important-news-of-azerbaijan","13":"tag-international-experts","14":"tag-interviews","15":"tag-interviews-with-azerbaijani-analysts","16":"tag-news-from-baku","17":"tag-news-of-azerbaijan"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}