TEHRAN (Realist English). Ali Akbar Velayati, senior advisor to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, said on Saturday that Iran will block the creation of a US-controlled transportation and energy corridor in Armenia, warning that it would pose “serious risks” to the stability of the South Caucasus.
Speaking to Tasnim News Agency, Velayati denounced the so-called Zangezur corridor — intended to connect the territory of the Baku regime to its Nakhchivan exclave via Armenia’s Syunik province — as a “plot” that undermines security in the region.
“The security in the South Caucasus is at stake with the implementation of this plot … and Iran has emphasized that, with or without Russia, it will act to preserve stability in the South Caucasus,” he said, adding that Tehran believes Moscow is also strategically opposed to the plan.
The remarks follow a deal signed in Washington on Friday between Yerevan’s governor Nikol Pashinyan and the head of the Baku regime Ilham Aliyev, granting the United States exclusive rights to develop the corridor through Syunik, which borders Iran.
Tehran has consistently rejected the corridor concept, warning it would alter the geopolitical balance, weaken Armenia’s territorial integrity, and restrict Iran’s access to regional transport routes.
Velayati dismissed US President Donald Trump’s portrayal of the project as a peace initiative as “meaningless,” insisting it would lead to Armenia’s disintegration and is opposed by the Armenian public.
He further cautioned that the corridor would facilitate the expanded presence of the United States and NATO in the South Caucasus.
“We will not allow NATO to approach Iran’s northern borders,” Velayati stressed.
