Azerbaijani soldiers regulate the movement of refugees leaving Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia via the Lachin corridor in September 2023. (Credit: AFP)
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan Tuesday reassured Iran's president that a planned corridor linking Azerbaijan with its exclave will be under Armemian control, as Iran had voiced opposition to the project.
The land corridor, dubbed the "Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity" (TRIPP), is part of a deal signed earlier this month in Washington between Armenia and Azerbaijan, two former Soviet republics previously engulfed in decades of disputes over territory.
Under the agreement, the United States will hold development rights for the proposed route, which would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave bordering Iran and Turkey.
"Roads passing through Armenia will be under the exclusive jurisdiction of Armenia, and security will be provided by Armenia, not by any third country," Pashinyan said at a meeting with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
He added that the corridor would open new economic perspectives between the two countries and may offer a railway path from Iran to the Black Sea coast through Armenia.
Iran has long opposed the planned transit route, also known as the Zangezur corridor, fearing it would cut the country off from Armenia and the rest of the Caucasus while bringing potentially hostile foreign forces close to its borders.
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