Mills said that Armenia wants to be taken seriously as a member of the international community, “which is a goal we adamantly support not just out of friendship, but because we believe that Armenia shares our views, our values about how the the world should run.” He said that they want Armenia to have a seat at the table and were pleased when Armenia was invited to attend President Obama’s summit on peacekeeping at the UN, when it attended and worked on the summit on protecting the Christian communities in the Middle East and refugee work at the UN. “We’ve worked with Armenia on genocide prevention and Geneva, these are important global issues and we’re happy and pleased that Armenia is playing a role,” he said. “But if your voice is going to be heard in the international community, you also have to accept some responsibilities.”

According to the diplomat, one those responsibilities includes speaking out when another member of the international community “engages in destructive behavior that violates international law or the norms of behavior.” He said that the U.S. government’s position is that Iran is engaged in supporting terrorism around the world. “From supporting Hezbollah in Lebanon to the terrorist attacks of Assad in Syria - it has troops in Syria - it is a destabilizing influence, its hostility to Israel. These kind of things need to be addressed by the international community,” he said adding that when appropriate, when there’s an act by any international state that violates the norms of the community, that requires responsible states to speak out. “We will be looking to Armenia to join others to speak out,” he went on. “We realize that may be difficult sometimes, but that’s one thing we’ll be looking for.”

Mills said that they are also not asking Armenia to stop its economic relationship or trade with Iran. “Even under the global sanctions that were in place before JPCO [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or Iran Nuclear Deal] agreement was reached, the ones imposed by the Security Council, Armenia had a waiver for some of its energy deals, gas for electricity for instance,” he said. “We welcomed that and approved that, so we’ve always recognized Armenia’s special needs.” He said that now when the U.S. is tightening sanctions on Iran, they’re asking Armenian businesses to simply pay attention to their sanctions so they don’t get caught in them. “These sanctions are very targeted, they’re not broad based on all of Iran,” he noted adding that they’re targeting specific individuals, businesses and entities that encompass two or three sectors including oil and gas, finance. “Again, an Armenian business may decide that they’re willing to risk access to the U.S. market, but we’re just saying that we are going to have these sanctions in place, we think it’s important, so talk to us before you make a deal or engage in business,” he said. “But we’re not pressing for a blanket ban on Armenian economic activity with Iran.”