At the moment, there are not negotiations between Iran and the United States, but contacts regarding negotiations. Iranian scholar Vardan Voskanyan wrote about this. “Judging by the available information leaks, at this stage official Tehran seeks to limit possible negotiations, firstly, exclusively to the agenda of the peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear program and the lifting of anti-Iranian sanctions, without touching on either the missile program or the issue of regional Iranian proxy forces; secondly, to conduct these negotiations exclusively in the Iran-US bilateral format, excluding the participation of other regional actors; and thirdly, to hold them not in Istanbul, but in the capital of Oman, excluding Turkey from giving additional weight and turning the negotiations into another stage of the interrupted Iranian-American negotiation process that took place before the 12-day war last year. “The extent to which Iran will be able to achieve these goals will become clear in the coming days, but it is obvious that even in the face of a constant military threat from the most powerful superpower in the world, the Iranians are carrying out careful and complex diplomatic work, aimed, among other things, at ensuring the long-term vital interests of the country even before the start of negotiations,” Voskanyan wrote.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, during a discussion with MEPs of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, called on the EU to stop dreaming that the EU is able to defend itself without the United States. "And if anyone here again thinks that the European Union or Europe as a whole can defend itself without the US, keep dreaming. You can't. We can't. We need each other... But for Europe, if you really want to go it alone, and those of you who want it, forget - you'll never get there with 5% (GDP for defense - ed.). It will be 10%. You'll have to build up your own nuclear capabilities. It costs billions and billions. euro. You will lose them. In this scenario, you will lose the highest character of our freedom, which is the US nuclear umbrella. So, hey, good luck," he said. US President Donald Trump earlier in his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, in particular, criticized Europe, saying that it was moving in the wrong direction, and called the US the economic engine of the planet. As Politico wrote, a European diplomat said after Trump’s speech in Davos that the American dream of Europe is dead.

Iranian authorities express interest in a diplomatic settlement of disputes with the United States, said American President Donald Trump. "They want to make a deal, I know. They have contacted us multiple times, they want to talk," he said in an interview with Axios. At the same time, Trump emphasized that he had attracted significant forces to Iran. "We have a large armada near Iran. It is larger than the one near Venezuela," the American leader said. At the same time, Axios, citing sources, notes that Trump has not yet made a decision on strikes against Iran. According to the publication, the US President is scheduled to have relevant consultations this week.

US President Donald Trump said that negotiations in Davos with his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelensky went well. “I had a very good meeting with Zelensky, everyone wants the conflict to end,” Sky News quotes the president as saying. The meeting lasted about an hour. Trump noted that American negotiators would later meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Our problem is that we have always dealt with small projects. We are not used to large projects, and they have their own characteristics: there are always unresolved issues and new unresolved issues always arise. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this during a briefing, answering a question about the coordination of the TRIPP project with the Iranian side. “When there is an unresolved issue on the table, it is not resolved, and when you solve it, there are 4 new issues that need to be solved. For every 4 questions solved, 4 new questions appear to be solved. That's why the TRIPP project is such a big issue that every step of the way, as we refine one issue, there are new issues to think about. When TRIPP began to work in practice, everything changed, new issues arose that needed to be worked on,” he noted. Pashinyan added that he welcomes Turkey’s readiness, and that the time has come for any symbolic or non-symbolic, but large-scale steps in their dialogue. Relations with Iran are at a very high level, and there is a desire to sign a document on strategic partnership with Iran.

The third President of the Republic of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, addressed the publication by the Armenian government of a package of negotiating documents on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The official commentary entitled “What does the negotiation package on Nagorno-Karabakh reveal?”, which precedes the publication by the Armenian government on December 2, 2025 of documents relating to the negotiation process on the Karabakh issue, is nothing more than a primitive, and futile attempt to hold others responsible for the catastrophic consequences of the authorities’ failed policy on Nagorno-Karabakh carried out after May 2018. A very simple question arises: if, according to the statements of the current rulers of Armenia, the negotiation process and the proposals of the co-chairs gave advantages only to Baku, why did the Azerbaijani side, at least from 2008 until 2018, refuse all these proposals; criticized the co-chairs and even called for their dismissal? Azerbaijan, unlike Armenia, refused to accept as a basis 5 statements by the presidents of the co-chairing countries - Russia, the USA and France - on Nagorno-Karabakh, made in L’Aquila, Muskoka, Los Cabos and Enniskillen. Azerbaijan, unlike Armenia, refused to support the statements on Nagorno-Karabakh made from 2008 to 2017 by OSCE Foreign Ministers on the sidelines of the OSCE Foreign Ministerial Councils and the Statement adopted at the OSCE Astana Summit in 2010, or subsequently took a step back from preliminary support. Azerbaijan, unlike Armenia, abandoned the agreements reached at the summits in St. Petersburg (June 17, 2010), Astrakhan (October 27, 2010), Sochi (March 3, 2011), Kazan (June 24, 2011), Sochi (January 23, 2012), Vienna (May 16, 2016) g.), St. Petersburg (June 20, 2016), Geneva (October 16, 2017). Having led itself to a dead end in the negotiation process, until 2018 Azerbaijan repeatedly threatened to withdraw from it, but did not do so, fearing an open confrontation with the co-chairing countries - the three permanent members of the UN Security Council - Russia, the USA and France, which have an international mandate for mediation to resolve the conflict, and accordingly fearing an open confrontation with the entire international community. At the same time, Baku, through repeated violations of the ceasefire and torpedoing the negotiation process, regularly provoked Yerevan to abandon negotiations in order to blame Armenia for the breakdown of the peace process. But the Azerbaijani side was unable to do this. Moreover, the positions of Armenia and the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group became almost consonant, which was publicly stated more than once. By refusing almost all proposals and initiatives of the co-chairing countries or regularly taking a step back from already reached agreements, Azerbaijan in its approaches to resolving the conflict has practically opposed itself not only to Armenia, but also to the international community.

The next stop on the official visit of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan to Germany is the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce, where a meeting with businessmen is taking place. As Armenpress reports, Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan was greeted by the Director General of the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Malte Heine. After the ceremonial photo shoot, a discussion began on the topic “Exploring the strategic role of Armenia in connecting Europe and Asia,” in which businessmen from various fields took part: renewable energy, information technology, metallurgy, cargo transportation, finance, banking, hotel business, etc. The following companies took part in the discussion: MB Energy, Hanbao Energien, Intertek Caleb Brett Germany, Hafen Hamburg Marketing, Aurubis, Maersk Deutschland, Hamburger Sparkasse, Hamburg Invest, etc. In his speech, Prime Minister Pashinyan presented details of the TRIPP project and the Crossroads of the World initiative, highlighting Armenia's potential as a hub for international logistics routes.

Summing up the results of 2025, we can state: the region has experienced a unique set of events - from the intensification of negotiations and preparations for the formalization of agreements between Armenia and Azerbaijan to the strengthening of economic initiatives in transport logistics and outbreaks of internal political instability in individual countries. Positive: promoting conversations about corridors, increasing tourism in Armenia, major humanitarian exchanges, negotiations on logistics. Risks: pressure on religious and human rights institutions, economic uncertainty due to external sanctions and logistics restrictions, prolonged local incidents on the border. Stability will require a combination of: political will to implement agreements, guaranteed security mechanisms, economic support and programs to restore trust within societies. If this does not happen, 2026 could become a test year for the strength of the agreements reached.