Coronavirus Update: Armenia Closes Border With Iran, While Azerbaijan Keeps It Open

Armenia is expected to fly back dozens of its citizens from Iran on Wednesday as the coronavirus outbreaks worsens in the Islamic Republic.

Arsen Avagyan of the Armenian Foreign Ministry said 65 Armenian nationals, including some who hold dual citizenship, contacted the Armenian Embassy in Teheran and asked to be repatriated.

Armenia itself has recorded no cases of the coronavirus, while Iran has reported 95 infections, with 15 deaths, the highest such death toll outside of China. Most of the infections in Iran have occurred in Qom, a Shi’ite Muslim pilgrimage site about 90 miles south of Teheran.

On Monday, Armenia partly closed its border with Iran and halted commercial flights between the two countries for two weeks as a precautionary measure.

But Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan assured that Armenians and Iranians will not be barred from returning to their respective nations.

"We are talking about citizens of Iran who are currently in Armenia and Armenian citizens who are currently in Iran. They are free to return to their homelands," Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan also said the travel ban will not apply to cargo traffic passing through the border.

“Cargo shipments will continue to be carried without restrictions,” said Pashinyan. “It’s just that there will be special monitoring of [truck] drivers carrying out cargo shipments and a special regime for cargo shipments.”

Armenia has also suspended consular services at its Teheran embassy.

Pashinyan further noted that his government will review the travel prohibitions in two weeks.

“We will be in closer contact with official representatives of the friendly Islamic Republic of Iran so that we have a more complete evaluation of the situation and jointly decide our further actions in that direction,” he said.

Iran and Armenia are not only neighbors, but important trade partners – bilateral trade reached $364 million in 2018. The two countries also share cultural, ethnic and linguistic ties.

In late March, thousands of Iranians were expected to arrive in Armenia to celebrate Nowruz, the ancient Persian New Year.

Iranians do not require a visa to enter Armenia.

Last year, Armenia received nearly 250,000 visitors from Iran, including tens of thousands for the weeklong Nowruz festivities. Assuming the travel ban is lifted prior to the holiday, worries have arisen about the Armenian healthcare system’s ability to properly screen the virus.

However, as recently as Sunday, Armenian Health Minister Arsen Torosyan said fears of contagion were overblown.

“While there are extreme cases where coronavirus might cause death, the figures are comparable to the common flu,” Torosyan said.

Torosyan also tried to calm down Armenians. “We closed the visa-free regime with China and now we don’t have… any Chinese citizens in Armenia,” he said. “In the case of Iran, it is important to adopt a coordinated approach with Georgia, as many Iranian people and cargo travel to Georgia through Armenia.”

However, Iranians traveling to neighboring countries may have already spread the virus. On Monday, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain all confirmed their first cases – apparently all these infections involved people arriving from Iran.

Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Turkmenistan and Turkey have all closed their borders with Iran.

Meanwhile, another of Iran’s neighbors, Azerbaijan, still kept its borders open as of Tuesday.

“People crossing the border from Iran are undergoing special tests,” said Azerbaijan’s state customs committee. “Their temperature is being taken with portable thermometers and first aid teams are being sent to border posts to be ready around the clock.”

A guard at the border noted that “the number of crossings of Azerbaijani citizens hasn’t gone down either during the day or at night. The alarming news about new coronavirus infections in Iran hasn’t affected the number of people who want to go there.”

The Iranian Commercial attache in Azerbaijan Javad Mohajeri said passenger traffic was unhindered at the border between Bileh Savar in Iran and Astara in Azerbaijan.

“There has also been no ban on flights from Tehran and Tabriz to Baku, and Azerbaijan Airlines… has announced that it will not cancel its flights to Iran,” he added. “There is also no restriction on the traffic of trucks and trailers carrying commercial cargo to the Republic of Azerbaijan and vice versa. However, disinfection operations on them have slowed traffic.”

Still, on Monday, Azerbaijan urged its citizens not to visit Iran.

Hikmet Hajiyev, the top foreign policy adviser to President Ilham Aliyev, stated that Azerbaijan is “seriously studying” the recommendations of the World Health Organization and is “taking the necessary measures.”

Some Azerbaijanis are troubled by their government’s actions.

“Against the backdrop of what restrictive measures [other] neighboring countries have taken, [Azerbaijan’s] position looks very strange, where they assure us that the situation is under control,” said a report on the news website minval.az. “The troubling reports from Iran are causing a justified panic in Azerbaijani society.”

Nahid Bagirov, the chief of the Azerbaijan Tourism Association, said the coronavirus outbreak in Iran is worrisome.

“Iran directly borders Azerbaijan. Large numbers of Iranians regularly visit Azerbaijan, especially ahead of the spring holiday Nowruz,” he said. “The current situation is a serious signal to the relevant [authorities]. Several countries have already announced the closure of their borders with Iran.”