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U.S. President Donald Trump’s move to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was first of all provocative, flaring-up tensions in the region, namely the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, an Armenian expert on Iranian studies said on Monday.

Speaking at a news conference in Yerevan, Vardan Voskanyan noted while the Syrian conflict was successfully dealt with in the Middle East, attempts are made to ‘fuel another conflict’ in the region, pointing to the influence of a rather powerful Jewish lobby on the U.S. president.

The expert reminded Jerusalem serves as the capital of three religions, with Christianity bringing the greatest fame to the city.

“Therefore it will be a gross mistake to neglect the fate of the Christians when settling the issue. The Armenians are among those Christians too with their enormous presence in Jerusalem,” Mr. Voskanyan said.

Reflecting on the Armenia-Iran relations, the expert outlined the visit if the Armenian defense minister to Iran as one of the most important events in 2017.

“It is highly important that Armenia and Iran pursue developing ties in the defense sphere. The sector is certainly closed, and it is difficult to expect a huge flow of information, but there are some partnership prospects, achievements, and agreements,” he said.

Touching upon Iran’s position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the expert underlined that Iran is dealing with numerous conflicts along its border involving many parties. “If the Karabakh conflict is a key priority for Armenia, it is not the case with Iran. This is another conflict for that country. However Iran’s balanced position on the issue helps us to advance our interests given the fact Azerbaijan makes regular attempts to present the Artsakh conflict as a dispute with religious subtext,” the speaker highlighted.

Summing up, Vardan Voskanyan underscored the pro-Azerbaijani lobbyist groups in Iran have weakened as evidenced by the recent interview given by the Artsakh Foreign Minister to the Iranian newspaper representing the Iranian president’s political team.

“This comes to show that Iran's stance has changed. This is firstly the outcome of the efforts of the Armenian side. However, these efforts would be in vain if Iran did not share common interests with Armenia. First of all it refers to keeping the Artsakh-Iran border unchanged and excluding deployment of peacekeeping forces in the region,” he stressed.