The ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, reacted to a senior Iranian diplomat’s assertion that “only Iran supports Armenia” in opposing a land corridor that would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave through a key Armenian region.
“We have no disagreements with Armenia on the so-called ‘Zangezur corridor,’” Iran’s ambassador in Yerevan, Mehdi Sobhani, said last week.
“Russia’s and Iran’s approaches to unblocking transport links in the region are similar in principle.” Zakharova said, commenting on Sobhani’s remarks. “This is confirmed in the agreement on comprehensive strategic partnership between Russia and Iran signed in Moscow on January 17, 2025.”
“According to this document, the parties shall contribute to the maintenance of peace and security in adjacent regions, including the South Caucasus … and cooperate with the aim of preventing interference and destabilizing presence there of third powers,” she told a news conference. “The only difference is that Russia is a party to the trilateral working group on unblocking transport and economic ties in the South Caucasus co-chaired by the vice-premiers of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia.”
The group worked out the basic parameters of the Armenian-Azerbaijani transports links in 2023, Zakharova said, effectively blaming Armenia for the parties’ failure to implement that agreement. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov likewise accused Yerevan last August of “sabotaging” a Russian-brokered 2020 agreement that commits Armenia to opening rail and road links between Nakhichevan and the rest of Azerbaijan.
The accusation rejected by Armenian officials sparked angry reactions from Iran. The Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned Russia’s ambassador in Tehran to warn Russia against contributing to any “geopolitical changes” in the region. Moscow countered that it is not seeking any arrangements that would compromise Armenia’s territorial integrity.
The Islamic Republic fears that the corridor demanded by Baku would strip it of its common border with Armenia. Sobhani stressed that it would be bad for both countries.
The Armenian government maintains that the 2020 accord calls for only conventional transport links between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Baku insists, however, people and cargo transported to and from Nakhichevan must be exempt from Armenian border checks. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev renewed last month his threats to open the “Zangezur corridor” by force.
