The Armenian capital is not merely a place where Western powers rub shoulders uneasily with Russia and Azerbaijan. It is also an epicentre of Iranian diplomacy in the Caucasus. Paris may currently be stepping up military aid to Armenia and seeking to counter disinformation campaigns (IO, 24/04/23 and 07/03/24), but visitors to the French embassy in Grigor Lusavorich Street will discover just up the road a little corner of Iran. 

The Blue Mosque was inaugurated in 1765, when the region was under Persian