(MENAFN) Iran has strongly criticized a US-backed proposal to establish and oversee a transit route through Armenia, warning it would threaten regional stability and harm Tehran’s security interests.

The plan, signed in Washington by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and US President Donald Trump, outlines the creation of the Zangezur transport corridor linking mainland Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave via southern Armenia, along the Iranian border. Under the deal, the US would manage the corridor under Armenian sovereignty for 99 years, leasing it to a consortium for construction and operations.

While Tehran says it supports peace efforts between Yerevan and Baku, it firmly opposes placing the route under US control, arguing it would cut off Iran’s access to Armenia and allow a foreign military and commercial presence in the South Caucasus.

Ali Akbar Velayati, senior adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called the project a geopolitical maneuver by the US and Israel to weaken Iran, isolate it from the Caucasus, and impose a land blockade on both Iran and Russia. He claimed it was part of a NATO-supported strategy to shift Western attention from Ukraine to the Caucasus, warning the corridor would become “a graveyard” for foreign forces.

Russia has also expressed reservations, with Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stressing that regional stability is best pursued through solutions crafted by countries within the region, namely Russia, Iran, and Turkey. She noted that post-2020 Nagorno-Karabakh agreements remain valid and that Russian forces continue to guard Armenia’s border with Iran under a 1992 treaty.

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