RFE/RL – Iran’s Concerns Over U.S.-Armenian Corridor Deal Yet To Be Addressed

The planned Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave through Armenia’s strategic Syunik region. The U.S. government is to gain a 74 percent stake in a joint venture that should build and manage a railway, a road, energy supply lines and other infrastructure there. Iran fears that this transit arrangement could endanger its border with Armenia and lead to U.S. security presence there.

The Iranian ambassador in Yerevan, Khalil Shirgholami, described these concerns as “very legitimate and logical,” pointing to the U.S. and Israeli military campaign against his country and accusing Washington of violating a ceasefire agreement reached last month.

“These concerns must be clearly addressed,” Shirgholami told a news conference. “The Armenian government has assured us that as a result of this project’s implementation and the U.S. presence no threats or challenges to Iran will emerge.”

“I think that we need to work out a mechanism whereby Armenia will be able to realize its full potential for de-blockade but at the same time the potential risks of U.S. presence and threats to Iran must be managed and addressed in a clear manner,” he said.

Pashinian met with Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian last Friday when he visited Tehran to attend funeral ceremonies for Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in U.S.-Israeli air strikes in February. In a clear reference to the United States, Pezeshkian told Pashinian that “extra-regional” powers must not be allowed to interfere in Armenian-Iranian relations. Pashinian reportedly assured him that Yerevan “will not participate in any plan, project or action that is against the interests and security of Iran.”

U.S. President Donald Trump pointed to Pashinian’s commitment to the TRIPP when he endorsed the Armenian premier ahead of the parliamentary elections on June 7. Following his party’s victory in the disputed polls, Pashinian said that the project’s implementation will be one of his top policy priorities. Azerbaijani and Turkish leaders have said that the TRIPP amounts to the kind of “extraterritorial corridor” that has been sought by them since the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

In Shirgholami’s words, during the meeting with Pashinian, Pezeshkian also stressed the importance of signing an Armenian-Iranian agreement on strategic partnership “as soon as possible.”

“We are currently working on the text of the document,” said the envoy. “It is in the drafting stage now, and we hope to complete this stage and begin work towards signing it as soon as possible.”

Armenian officials have made no public statements on the planned agreement lately.

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