TEHRAN (PanARMENIAN.Net) — Iran on November 9 pledged to complete “as soon as possible” the construction of a new road that will connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave through the Islamic Republic and bypass Armenia,” RFE/RL’s Armenian service reported.
Azerbaijani and Iranian officials broke ground on the road during a ceremony held on October 7. Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk said afterwards that Baku and Tehran have also agreed to build a similar rail link bypassing Syunik, the sole Armenian province bordering Iran.
Tehran has repeatedly warned against attempts to strip Iran of the common border and transport links with Armenia, responding to Azerbaijani demands for a presumably extraterritorial “corridor” for Nakhichevan.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has implicitly threatened to open the corridor by force. Azerbaijani September 19-20 military offensive in Karabakh raised more fears in Yerevan that Baku will act on those threats.
Earlier in October, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi reportedly told a visiting Azerbaijani official the “Zangezur corridor” sought by Baku is “resolutely opposed by Iran.” Aliyev’s top foreign policy aide, Hikmet Hajiyev, said later in October that the corridor “has lost its attractiveness for us” and that Baku is now planning to “do this with Iran instead.”
Raisi and Aliyev discussed the issue on Thursday when they met in Uzbekistan’s capital Tashkent on the sidelines of an Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) summit.
