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Iran has announced it will block a planned transport corridor in the Caucasus under a US-brokered peace accord between Azerbaijan and Armenia, describing the initiative as "political treachery" aimed at undermining Armenia's territorial integrity, Al Jazeera reported.
Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to Iran's supreme leader, said on Saturday that Tehran would obstruct the corridor "with or without Russia," with which Iran has a strategic alliance alongside Armenia. US President Donald Trump "thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years," Velayati told state-affiliated Tasnim News, referring to the transport corridor included in the peace deal. "This passage will not become a gateway for Trump's mercenaries -- it will become their graveyard," he added, warning against what he called a US plot in the region, Al Jazeera reported. The terms of the accord, unveiled at a signing ceremony at the White House on Friday, include exclusive US development rights to a route through Armenia linking Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan, an Azerbaijani enclave bordering Turkey. The corridor, named the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), would operate under Armenian law and pass close to Iran's border, raising Tehran's concerns. Velayati argued the corridor would open the way for NATO to position itself "like a viper" between Iran and Russia. Iran's foreign ministry expressed concerns over the "negative consequences of any foreign intervention" near its borders. While welcoming the peace deal, the ministry emphasized that projects near Iran's borders must respect "national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and without foreign interference," Al Jazeera reported. Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs cautiously welcomed the deal, supporting efforts to promote stability and prosperity in the region, including the Washington meeting. However, Moscow warned against outside intervention, stressing that lasting solutions should be developed by regional countries. "The involvement of non-regional players should strengthen the peace agenda, not create new divisions," the ministry said, adding hopes to avoid the "unfortunate experience" of Western-led conflict resolution in the Middle East, according to Al Jazeera. Meanwhile, Turkey expressed hope that the planned transit corridor would boost exports of energy and other resources through the South Caucasus. Ankara has strongly backed Azerbaijan in its conflicts with Armenia but has pledged to restore ties with Yerevan after a final peace deal is signed. The Turkish presidency said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the peace agreement with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and offered Ankara's support in achieving lasting peace in the region. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, during a visit to Egypt, described the corridor as potentially linking "Europe with the depths of Asia via Turkey" and called it "a very beneficial development," Al Jazeera reported. Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought several wars since the late 1980s over Nagorno-Karabakh, a region in Azerbaijan with a predominantly ethnic Armenian population. Armenia last year agreed to return several villages to Azerbaijan in what Baku called a "long-awaited historic event." Ahmad Shahidov, of the Azerbaijan Institute for Democracy and Human Rights, told Al Jazeera that he expects a final peace declaration between Armenia and Azerbaijan to be signed in the coming weeks. Shahidov said the US-brokered deal announced Friday constitutes a "roadmap" for the final agreement, which seems imminent given there are no unresolved territorial disputes between the neighbors, Al Jazeera reported. (ANI)
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