As the European Union, the United States and a host of other nations gear up to cut Iran off, Armenia is pursuing joint projects with Tehran that could potentially open new conduits to the outside world.

On January 23, the EU decided to impose an embargo on Iranian oil, to start in July, provided Tehran continues to obstruct international efforts to monitor its nuclear program. The United States, meanwhile, in late December tightened its sanctions on Iran.

A nation like Armenia, which receives tens of millions of dollars annually in US assistance, might be expected to quickly align itself behind the Western-spearheaded embargo. But Armenia has been itself blockaded since the early 1990s by two of its four neighbors, Turkey and Azerbaijan. Given that circumstance, policymakers in Yerevan view Iran as a lifeline.

The centerpiece of Armenian-Iranian cooperation is a planned 365-kilometer-long oil pipeline, which would originate in Tabriz and be capable of delivering 1.5 million liters of gasoline and diesel daily to the southwestern Armenian town of Yeraskh. Work on the pipeline, estimated to cost $160 million -$180 million, is slated to begin this year, and to be completed by 2014. Tehran has agreed to pay for the section of the oil pipeline that runs through Iranian territory; Yerevan would cover the Armenian section.

At present, Armenian leaders say the international embargo campaign against Iran won’t stop Yerevan’s plan to build the pipeline, which experts at the Armenian Energy Ministry estimate will save the country up to 30 percent per year in energy costs. “They [Iran] always have problems, but we continue to work,” Energy and Natural Resources Minister Armen Movsisian told EurasiaNet.org. The project, he added, will begin “soon.”

Movsisian did not specify whether or not the Armenian government has discussed with Washington how the sanctions would apply to the Iranian oil pipeline, or other Armenian projects with Iran.