Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian committed to such a transport link during talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on August 8. It would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave through Armenia’s strategic Syunik province bordering Iran.
Iran fears that the deal could pose a threat to the Armenian-Iranian border and lead to U.S. security presence in the area. Pashinian clearly failed to fully dispel the Iranian concerns when he met with Pezeshkian in Yerevan on August 19. The latter spoke out against any “outsourcing of regional issues” to outside powers.
But meeting with Armen Grigorian, the visiting secretary of Armenia’s Security Council, on Saturday, Pezeshkian said he is satisfied with his talks in the Armenian capital. According to Iranian news agencies, he said assurances made by the Armenian leaders “largely alleviated” Tehran’s concerns over the potential “presence of foreign forces in this sensitive area.” He also praised Iranian-Armenian agreements reached during the trip.
“We must act in such a way that no foreign power can disrupt the friendly and strategic relations of our countries,” the Mehr news agency quoted Pezeshkian as telling Grigorian.
Iran’s more conservative ruling circles close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei seem to have been less sanguine on that score. Meeting with Grigorian, the Iranian army chief of staff, Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi, objected to the “presence of extra-regional powers, including the United States” in the region.
Grigorian was reported to assure Pezeshkian, Mousavi and other senior Iranian officials that Armenia will have full control over the transit corridor to be named after Trump and prevent any negative impact on its relations with Iran.
Armenian opposition leaders have brushed aside similar statements made by Pashinian. They say that he agreed to open the kind of an extraterritorial corridor that has been sought by Azerbaijan.
Senior Azerbaijani official stated last week that Yerevan accepted Baku’s demands for a land corridor to Nakhichevan exclave during the Washington talks. Turkish leaders likewise used in recent days the Azerbaijani term “Zangezur corridor” in reference to the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP).
Crucial details of the transit arrangement have yet to be agreed upon or made public. Trump appeared to confirm on August 8 Western press reports that the U.S. will secure a long-term lease on the TRIPP. He said it “could extend for up to 99 years.”
Pashinian insisted on August 28, however, that no “fixed agreements” have been reached yet on time frames and other practical modalities of this transit arrangement. He said Armenian, Azerbaijani and U.S. officials will hold more talks on the matter in September.
On Monday, Pashinian met separately with Aliyev and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in China. His press office gave few details of the meetings.