Iranian official Ali Akbar Velayati stated that the "Zangezur Corridor", which the US plans to create in the Caucasus, is a threat to regional security. He emphasised that they will prevent the opening of this corridor in cooperation with Russia or alone.

A senior Iranian official has strongly condemned plans to establish a US-controlled transportation and energy corridor in Armenia, warning that the project poses serious risks to the stability of the South Caucasus region.

Ali Akbar Velayati, senior advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, stated on Saturday that Iran will actively oppose the so-called Zangezur corridor, which aims to connect Azerbaijan to its exclave of Nakhchivan through Armenia’s southern Syunik province.

“The security in the Southern Caucasus is at stake with the implementation of this plot,” Velayati told Tasnim news agency. “Iran has emphasized that with or without Russia, it will act to preserve stability in the Southern Caucasus.”

The corridor was agreed upon in a recent deal signed between Azerbaijan and Armenia in Washington, granting the US exclusive rights to develop the transport route. The plan has drawn sharp criticism from Tehran, which views it as a geopolitical shift that threatens regional balance and Iran’s access to key transport networks.

Velayati noted that Russia strategically opposes the establishment of this corridor, underscoring tensions surrounding the project’s implications for regional influence.

The former Iranian foreign minister (1981–1997) dismissed US President Donald Trump’s promotion of the corridor as a means to secure peace as “meaningless,” arguing instead that the corridor could lead to the disintegration of Armenia and is widely opposed by the Armenian people themselves.

Additionally, Velayati warned that the corridor would facilitate an increased presence of the US and NATO forces near Iran’s northern borders — a development Tehran categorically rejects.

“We will not allow NATO to approach Iran’s northern borders,” he emphasized, reaffirming Iran’s commitment to maintaining its national security and regional stability. (ILKHA)