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Tehran reiterates warning about foreign interference in Caucasus region
Mohajerani in an article published in Iran’s newspaper said Tehran has openly expressed its concerns about any foreign presence in the region after Armenia and Azerbaijan reached a US-brokered peace agreement which has granted Washington development rights to a strategic transit route across the strategic area.
The Iranian official noted that Iran’s concern arises from the historical experience of the region, where the interference of transregional powers has complicated crises and prolonged the path to peace.
Iran believes that the most sustainable solutions for the Caucasus region should be come up with cooperation and dialogue among the regional countries, not from pressure and dictation by external actors, Mohajerani said.
She said that experience in other parts of the world shows that agreements made without considering the sensitivities and real interests of neighboring countries, or those imposed by external pressure, either fail to be implemented or collapse at the first political crisis.
Back on August 8, 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.
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.