TBILISI, October 17 – Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in Armenia on Friday, discussing bilateral ties and tensions in the Middle East. The meeting drew criticism from U.S. Congressman Joe Wilson.
The talks took place in Yerevan on the sidelines of COP17, the UN biodiversity conference. According to the Georgian government, the two leaders discussed relations between Georgia and Iran, including cooperation in tourism, as well as the situation in the region.
Kobakhidze said afterward that Georgia strongly supports diplomatic efforts to settle regional conflicts peacefully.
Pezeshkian’s office gave a broader account of the meeting, saying the Iranian president called for “clear and transparent frameworks” to develop relations between the two countries and turn growing economic, cultural and tourism links into practical cooperation.
The Iranian president also criticized U.S. sanctions on Iran, rejected accusations that Tehran was seeking nuclear weapons and said Iran remained open to dialogue but would not submit to pressure.
According to Pezeshkian’s office, Kobakhidze said Georgia opposed outside interference in the internal affairs of neighboring countries and wanted relations with Iran to be based on friendship and cooperation.
On Saturday, Republican Congressman Joe Wilson sharply criticized the meeting.
“Once again, the America-hating Georgian Dream regime meets with terrorist state Iran,” Wilson wrote on X, calling the relationship an insult to President Donald Trump and the Georgian people.
Wilson is co-chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, an independent U.S. government body made up mainly of members of Congress, along with representatives of the State, Defense and Commerce departments, which works on human rights, security and economic cooperation across the OSCE region.
Wilson and the commission’s hard line toward the Georgian Dream government has been subject to some criticism. A recent DFWatch Opinion article originally published by Responsible Statecraft argued that the commission has increasingly acted like a “shadow State Department”.
