Mehdi Sobhani also reaffirmed Tehran’s support for the Armenian government’s position on transport links with Azerbaijan.
Yerevan proposed late last year a “Crossroads of Peace” project as a blueprint for opening the Armenian-Azerbaijani border to travel and commerce. The project says that Armenia and Azerbaijan should have full control of transport infrastructure inside each other’s territory. Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian praised it during a December visit to the Armenian capital.
Azerbaijan effectively rejected this formula and renewed its demands for an extraterritorial corridor that would connect it to its Nakhichevan exclave through Syunik, the only Armenian region bordering Iran. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in early January that people and cargo should be allowed to move through that corridor “without any checks.”
“We welcome and support the Crossroads of Peace project presented by Mr. Pashinian,” Sobhani told Armenian journalists and analysts. “That project is about maintaining peace and stability in the region and respecting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of regional countries. We consider Armenia’s position logical and consistent with international norms.”
“We welcome the unblocking of roads but only if that happens on the basis of the interests and sovereignty of the regional countries,” the envoy said in comments cited by the Armenpress news agency. “We support the strengthening of Armenia and the establishment of peace and stability. Only a balance of forces in our region will contribute to all that. We are ready to provide any assistance that Armenia will need for further development.”
Sobhani indicated Iran’s opposition to the Azerbaijani demands for the so-called “Zangezur corridor” backed by Turkey. The Islamic Republic will not tolerate any “geopolitical changes” in the South Caucasus, he said, echoing statements regularly made by Iranian leaders.
Kamal Kharrazi, a senior adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also made this clear when he visited Yerevan last week. Pashinian and Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan praised Tehran’s stance during their talks with Kharrazi.
Armenia’s position on the issue has been criticized by not only Azerbaijan and Turkey but also Russia, its longtime ally. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov complained on January 18 that Yerevan opposes Russian control of a prospective Syunik road and railway leading to Nakhichevan. Lavrov claimed that a Russian-brokered agreement that stopped the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh calls for “neutral border and customs control” there. Armenian leaders deny this.
