Iran threatens Caucasus corridor announced on Friday

10/8/2025 5:44

Iran threatened on

Saturday to block a corridor planned in the Caucasus under a

regional deal sponsored by U.S. President Donald Trump, Iranian

media reported, raising a new question mark over a peace plan

hailed as a strategically important shift.



A top Azerbaijani diplomat said earlier that the plan,

announced by Trump on Friday, was just one step from a final

peace deal between his country and Armenia, which reiterated its

support for the plan.



The proposed Trump Route for International Peace and

Prosperity (TRIPP) would run across southern Armenia, giving

Azerbaijan a direct route to its exclave of Nakhchivan and in

turn to Turkey.



The U.S. would have exclusive development rights to the

corridor, which the White House said would facilitate greater

exports of energy and other resources.



It was not immediately clear how Iran, which borders the

area, would block it but the statement from Ali Akbar Velayati,

top adviser to Iran's supreme leader, raised questions over its

security.



He said military exercises carried out in northwest Iran

demonstrated the Islamic Republic's readiness and determination

to prevent any geopolitical changes.



"This corridor will not become a passage owned by Trump, but

rather a graveyard for Trump's mercenaries," Velayati said.



Iran's foreign ministry earlier welcomed the agreement "as

an important step toward lasting regional peace", but warned

against any foreign intervention near its borders that could

"undermine the region's security and lasting stability".



Analysts and insiders say that Iran, under mounting US

pressure over its disputed nuclear programme and the aftermath

of a 12-day war with Israel in June, lacks the military power to

block the corridor.







MOSCOW SAYS WEST SHOULD STEER CLEAR



Trump welcomed Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in the White House on

Friday and witnessed their signing of a joint declaration aimed

at drawing a line under their decades-long on-off conflict.



Russia, a traditional broker and ally of Armenia in the

strategically important South Caucasus region which is

crisscrossed with oil and gas pipelines, was not included,

despite its border guards being stationed on the border between

Armenia and Iran.



While Moscow said it supported the summit, it proposed

"implementing solutions developed by the countries of the region

themselves with the support of their immediate neighbours –

Russia, Iran and Turkey" to avoid what it called the "sad

experience" of Western efforts to mediate in the Middle East.



Azerbaijan's close ally, NATO member Turkey, welcomed the

accord.



Baku and Yerevan have been at odds since the late 1980s when

Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly

populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with

support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the

region in 2023, prompting almost all of the territory's 100,000

ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.



"The chapter of enmity is closed and now we're moving

towards lasting peace," said Elin Suleymanov, Azerbaijan's

ambassador to Britain, predicting that the wider region's

prosperity and transport links would be transformed for the

better.



"This is a paradigm shift," said Suleymanov, who as a former

envoy to Washington who used to work in President Aliyev's

office, is one of his country's most senior diplomats.



Suleymanov declined to speculate on when a final peace deal

would be signed however, noting that Aliyev had said he wanted

it to happen soon.



There remained only one obstacle, said Suleymanov, which was

for Armenia to amend its constitution to remove a reference to

Nagorno-Karabakh.



"Azerbaijan is ready to sign any time once Armenia fulfils

the very basic commitment of removing its territorial claim

against Azerbaijan in its constitution," he said.







MANY QUESTIONS UNANSWERED



Pashinyan this year called for a referendum to change the

constitution, but no date for it has been set yet. Armenia is to

hold parliamentary elections in June 2026, and the new

constitution is expected to be drafted before the vote.



The Armenian leader said on X that the Washington summit had

paved the way to end the decades of conflict and open transport

connections that would unlock strategic economic opportunities.



Asked when the transit rail route would start running,

Suleymanov said that would depend on cooperation between the

U.S. and Armenia whom he said were already in talks.



Joshua Kucera, Senior South Caucasus analyst at

International Crisis Group, said Trump may not have got the easy

win he had hoped for as the agreements left many questions

unanswered.



The issue of Armenia's constitution continued to threaten to

derail the process, and it was not clear how the new transport

corridor would work in practice.



"Key details are missing, including about how customs checks

and security will work and the nature of Armenia's reciprocal

access to Azerbaijani territory. These could be serious

stumbling blocks," said Kucera.



Suleymanov played down suggestions that Russia, which still

has extensive security and economic interests in Armenia, was

being disadvantaged.



"Anybody and everybody can benefit from this if they choose

to," he said.