By trusting the United States, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made the same mistake as Volodymyr Zelensky. Tehran will protect its security and national interests from the Zangezur project by all necessary means, said General Yadollah Javani, deputy head of the political affairs of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an elite unit of the Iranian armed forces.
The general's statement came a few days after Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met with US and Azerbaijani presidents Donald Trump and Ilham Aliyev in Washington, which resulted in a declaration on the initialing by the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan of the agreed text of the agreement on the establishment of peace and interstate relations between the two countries.
Yerevan also agreed to cooperate with the US and third countries to create the “Trump Road for International Peace and Prosperity“, connecting Azerbaijan with its Nakhchivan autonomy through the territory of Armenia.
“Aliyev and Pashinyan made the same mistake as Zelensky... They will pay dearly for their unworthy act. Iran, India and Russia will not remain silent in the face of this act," the conservative Iranian newspaper Kayhan quoted the general as saying.
Javani stressed that the "American dream" of a US presence on Iran's northern borders will never become a reality and the Islamic Republic will protect its security and national interests from the Zangezur project by all means necessary.
A day earlier, Iran's Supreme Leader's advisor Ali Akbar Velayati said that the Iranian side is against the creation of a corridor through Armenia, supported by Trump, that will connect Nakhchivan with Azerbaijan.
He added that the Zangezur corridor is not just "land" that can be easily leased, as it is part of the state's territory. According to him, expanding US influence in this region could lead to expanding NATO influence throughout the South Caucasus, which could turn into a "snake" between Iran and Russia. Velayati stressed that Tehran will not allow this to happen.
According to Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan, the “Trump Road to Peace and Prosperity” project, which, if implemented, will connect Azerbaijan with its Nakhchivan autonomy through Armenian territory, will become the largest investment program in the history of modern Armenia.
“Trump Road” refers not only to the railway, but also to potential oil and gas pipelines, power lines, and internet cables that will pass through the territory and provide revenue for the Armenian state budget. Pashinyan also noted that as a result of the project, Iran will receive a railway connection from the Persian Gulf to the Black Sea, and Russia will have the opportunity to establish a railway connection with Iran.