Presidential advisor says Iran sensitive to security plans in Caucasus region
A political advisor to the Iranian president said on Sunday that Iran has no objection to the removal of obstacles facing transportation routes in the Caucasus region, but it is sensitive to plans that would involve transregional powers into the security framework of the region.
Mehdi Sanaei made the comments in a post on X in reaction to a US-brokered peace agreement reached between Azerbaijan and Armenia on Friday.
He warned against setting the stage for increased tensions in the “historic Caucasus region” through such agreements which has granted Washington development rights to a strategic transit route across the strategic area.
Sanaei underlined that Tehran welcomes peace among its neighbors.
On Friday, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed the US-mediated peace deal at the White House.
The accord includes the creation of a transit corridor through Armenia to connect Azerbaijan to its exclave of Nakhchivan – a longstanding demand of Baku.
Under the deal, the United States will have development rights to the corridor – dubbed the "Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity" (TRIPP) – in the strategic, resource-rich region.
Iran has long opposed the modification of the corridor – often referred to as Zangezur – fearing it would cut the Islamic Republic off from the Caucasus.
In a statement on Saturday, Iran's Foreign Ministry welcomed "the finalization of the text of the peace agreement by the two countries" but expressed "concern over the negative consequences of any foreign intervention in any way and form, especially in the vicinity of common borders.”
The statement added that such a move would "disrupt the security and lasting stability of the region."
Christian-majority Armenia and Muslim-majority Azerbaijan have feuded for decades over their border and the status of ethnic enclaves within each other's territories.
The nations went to war twice over the disputed Karabakh region, which Azerbaijan recaptured from Armenian forces in a lightning 2023 offensive, sparking the exodus of more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians.