iran and armenia have been in close contact for thousands of years. since antiquity there has always been much interaction between ancient armenia and persia (iran). the armenian people are amongst the native ethnic groups of northwestern iran (known as iranian azerbaijan), having millennia long recorded history there while the region (or parts of it) have had made up part of historical armenia numerous times in history. these historical armenian regions that nowadays include iranian azerbaijan are nor shirakan, vaspurakan, and paytakaran. many of the oldest armenian chapels, monasteries and churches in the world are located within this region of iran.